Senegal grapples with floods ahead of parliamentary elections

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00:00Forced to flee her home after the Senegal river burst its banks last month,

00:05Kardi Atoussi says she's received no help and feels abandoned by the state.

00:11If we leave, we will be destroyed.

00:14We don't have a place to live.

00:17Since mid-October, a series of flash floods in Senegal's northeastern Matam region

00:22have displaced thousands of people, submerged acres of farmland and destroyed valuable crops.

00:29A disaster for the region, where nearly 80% of the population is unemployed

00:35and where already limited opportunities have been swept away.

00:40Our children have no work. They either sit at home or they're out in the fields.

00:45And now that the fields have been destroyed, the government must act quickly.

00:50Senegalese authorities recently pledged some 12 million euros in aid to help flood-affected areas,

00:56a package that should come on top of an ambitious development plan for the Matam region,

01:01announced by Prime Minister Ousmane Sanko last week.

01:05We want to create an industrial hub in Matam.

01:09All the phosphorus extracted will be transformed into fertilizer here.

01:14The installation and development phase alone will generate 10,000 direct jobs.

01:22The government will hope these pledges are enough to convince voters in the Matam region,

01:27as Senegal heads to the polls next week for early legislative elections.

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