Senegal: At least four dead after 48 hours of rain, over 100 mm recorded in Dakar

At least four people have died and several have been injured in Senegal following 48 hours of heavy rain, according to the toll released on October 5, 2026, by the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security and reported by the Senegalese Press Agency (APS) and Koaci. Some rainfall stations recorded totals exceeding 100 millimeters, according to the ministry.

The victims were all killed by collapses. In Unit 7 of Parcelles Assainies, in Dakar, a 25-year-old woman and her 4-year-old son died when a wall collapsed before water flooded the area, according to Koaci. In Gourel Serigne, in the Matam region, the collapse of a shed resulted in one death and two injuries. In Kaolack, the fall of a building housing a Quranic school killed one person and injured three others, according to the same media outlet. The APS indicated for its part that the assessment of the disaster in Kaolack was still ongoing.

It is not the rain that kills

The details of the circumstances reveal the essential point: none of these deaths were due to drowning. It was walls and roofs that gave way. Rainfall of 100 millimeters in two days is not an exceptional event in West Africa at this time of year; what is exceptional is that it is enough to bring down inhabited buildings and a classroom. The problem therefore lies in construction, urban drainage, and building permits in low-lying areas, not just the weather.

Dakar, Matam, and Kaolack also reported flooding, traffic disruptions, and material damage. The Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Mouhamadou Makhtar Cissé, has asked the National Fire Brigade and the territorial administration to strengthen their mobilization, according to the APS. Governors, prefects, and sub-prefects have been tasked with coordinating relief efforts on the ground, assisting displaced persons, and securing sites deemed vulnerable.

A still provisional toll

Rescue and damage assessment operations were continuing, and the human toll remained subject to change, according to Koaci. The media outlet Œil d'Afrique reported rainfall totals reaching 142 millimeters in 24 hours and noted that the state had acknowledged deaths without immediately communicating the total number.

The challenge for the coming days will be the care of displaced families, in a country where rainy season floods return every year to the same places, and where the census of at-risk housing remains the weak point of prevention.