<p>Floods in southeast Niger have forced 23,000 people to flee their homes since early October, officials said Saturday, threatening a new humanitarian crisis in a region already wracked by Boko Haram Islamist violence.</p>.<p>Heavy rains have caused the Komadougou Yobe river that flows through the semi-desert Diffa region into Lake Chad to burst its banks, inundating villages, flooding fields and damaging crops.</p>.<p>Two villages near the city of Diffa were "completely submerged" and 2,500 households have been forced to move, according to national radio the Voice of the Sahel.</p>.<p>Some 400 families were sheltering in a gym in the city, it added.</p>.<p>"We have been fighting for days to stop the water rising, but it's not working," Amadou Issa, a rice farmer, told AFP. "The sandbags we've been using to keep the water out are completely underwater."</p>.<p>Extreme weather events are common in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries.</p>.<p>Between June and September, 57 people were killed and more than 130,000 affected by flooding according to government figures.</p>.<p>The capital Niamey was hit badly in September, with the waters of the Niger river -- the third biggest in Africa -- rising to a level not seen in more than 50 years and swamping parts of the city.</p>.<p>Last year, drought and flooding led to food shortages in a crisis which, exacerbated by jihadist violence, left more than 10 per cent of the population needing humanitarian aid.</p>.<p>Niger, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania is also struggling against escalating attacks by armed Islamists.</p>.<p>According to the UN's human rights agency UNHCR, the Diffa region is home to almost 120,000 refugees and 109,000 internally displaced people.</p>
<p>Floods in southeast Niger have forced 23,000 people to flee their homes since early October, officials said Saturday, threatening a new humanitarian crisis in a region already wracked by Boko Haram Islamist violence.</p>.<p>Heavy rains have caused the Komadougou Yobe river that flows through the semi-desert Diffa region into Lake Chad to burst its banks, inundating villages, flooding fields and damaging crops.</p>.<p>Two villages near the city of Diffa were "completely submerged" and 2,500 households have been forced to move, according to national radio the Voice of the Sahel.</p>.<p>Some 400 families were sheltering in a gym in the city, it added.</p>.<p>"We have been fighting for days to stop the water rising, but it's not working," Amadou Issa, a rice farmer, told AFP. "The sandbags we've been using to keep the water out are completely underwater."</p>.<p>Extreme weather events are common in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries.</p>.<p>Between June and September, 57 people were killed and more than 130,000 affected by flooding according to government figures.</p>.<p>The capital Niamey was hit badly in September, with the waters of the Niger river -- the third biggest in Africa -- rising to a level not seen in more than 50 years and swamping parts of the city.</p>.<p>Last year, drought and flooding led to food shortages in a crisis which, exacerbated by jihadist violence, left more than 10 per cent of the population needing humanitarian aid.</p>.<p>Niger, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania is also struggling against escalating attacks by armed Islamists.</p>.<p>According to the UN's human rights agency UNHCR, the Diffa region is home to almost 120,000 refugees and 109,000 internally displaced people.</p>