At least 36 people have died in flooding in Niger since the start of the rainy season in June, most of them in northern desert areas, UN figures showed yesterday.

Over that period, the floods have affected a total of 130,468 people, destroying 7,212 homes, 8,162 hectares of crops and 31,118 head of cattle, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.