The UAE on Saturday sent a plane carrying 30.6 tonnes of food to areas affected by recent floods in Chad, including the capital N’Djamena.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation said the aid will help more than 442,000 people, especially the elderly, women and children.

“These food items come as part of the UAE leadership’s keenness to strengthen bilateral relations with African countries, especially Chad, which has strong historical relations with the UAE,” said Rashid Al Shamsi, UAE Ambassador to Chad.

Mr Al Shamsi said the food supplies reflect the UAE’s solidarity with Chad and its efforts to assist them. He said sending the aid is part of the UAE’s humanitarian approach to provide urgent relief to other countries during times of crisis and natural disasters.

He said the total value of UAE aid to Chad from 2017 to 2021, which has supported various humanitarian and development causes, amounted to Dh100 million ($27m).

Chad on Thursday declared a state of emergency as the country is hit with its worst flooding for three decades.

Heavy rains caused floods in 18 of the country’s 23 provinces — displacing more than a million people, the president said on Wednesday.

The flooding destroyed thousands of hectares of crops and “swallowed up … 19,000 heads of livestock”, said President Mahamat Idriss Deby. No deaths were reported.

In N’Djamena, a field of tents has sprung up to provide emergency shelter and victims are striving to salvage what they can from the ruins of their homes, AFP reported.

In Walia, a poor neighbourhood to the south of the city, dozens of homes were ravaged last week after the Chari River burst its banks following torrential rain, the report said.

Water levels rose by up to five metres, which local officials said was unprecedented, and swept aside makeshift defences erected by desperate inhabitants.

Chad is the world’s third-poorest country, according to the UN’s Human Development Index. The UN said 5.5 million citizens were in need of “emergency humanitarian aid”.

The country is facing a looming food crisis affecting more than two million people, the World Food Programme said.

Chad’s worst flooding for three decades – in pictures

Residents try to salvage items from houses submerged by floods in N’Djamena, Chad, on October 18, 2022. AFP