HARARE, October 10. /TASS/. At least 77 people have been killed, 148 injured and over 264,000 affected by floods in the Republic of Mali, the country's transitional Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said, speaking at a meeting of the inter-ministerial crisis and disaster management committee.

"47,955 households, comprising 264,648 people, have been affected by floods. A total of 77 people have been killed and 148 injured," the malijet website quoted the prime minister as saying. He added that many residential houses, schools, and infrastructure facilities have been destroyed.

This year, around 4 million people have been affected by unprecedented floods across West and Central Africa. The hardest-hit countries include Nigeria, Chad, Mali, Guinea, Niger, Cameroon, Ghana, and Liberia, where hundreds of people have died and vast areas of crops have been destroyed.

Experts attribute the devastating floods to global climate change. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), average temperatures in the Sahel are rising one and a half times faster than in other regions. "The situation is dire," said Modou Dio, deputy head of the ICRC's West Africa office. "People are suffering from hunger, and the floods are only making things worse," he added.