Flood deaths in West African cities raise fraught issue of slum evictions

Scientists have found that the deadly floods across parts of West Africa in recent weeks were made more likely and intense by human-driven climate change, while the expansion of cities into flood-prone areas amplified the devastation, raising the thorny problem of how to better protect poorer urban communities. 

A report from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group highlighted how the floods hit some of West Africa's most densely populated coastal regions, where rapid urbanisation has pushed formal and informal settlements dangerously into floodplains, while converting land into farms has reduced drainage.

Since May, West African countries including Ghana, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria have experienced weeks of torrential rain and deadly flash floods. Homes have been submerged,