When the waters rise: how the city of N’Djamena, Chad, prepared for floods and averted disaster
Results highlights
- Averted disaster: N’Djamena remained largely unharmed despite heavy rains and high-water levels on the Chari and Logone rivers. The city was able to protect 1.5 million residents with support from the N’Djamena Urban Resilience Project (known as PILIER).
- Drainage network restored: The 350-kilometer drainage system was cleared and repaired to improve water flow, with new oversight, digital mapping to track progress, and performance-based contracts. Safe disposal of waste from drains is now required.
- Emergency pumping capacity built: 12 high-capacity mobile pumps were sourced overseas under emergency procurement and deployed throughout the city, and about 30 municipal technicians trained, so they can run emergency pumps on their own and conduct regular practice drills.
- Community preparedness strengthened: Neighborhood groups received easy-to-use maps and support from local organizations, and emergency supplies were pre-positioned to help families who might be displaced by floods. 9,858 households benefitted from this support, totaling more than 60,000 people.
Development challenge
N’Djamena, where the Chari and Logone rivers meet, faces especially high flood risk, driven by intense rains, rapid urban growth, clogged drainage, and limited emergency response capacity. After the devastating 2022 floods and with heightened risks in 2024, the government urgently needed a systematic, technically sound preparedness plan to help protect the capital from another disaster. Chad endured the deadliest floods countrywide in decades in 2024, with 576 deaths and 1.9 million people affected — but N’Djamena remained largely unharmed.
World Bank Group approach
The World Bank supported a comprehensive flood preparedness and response plan under the PILIER project. The approach focused on fast, technically sound actions: full-scale dredging of N’Djamena’s drainage network, procuring and training teams to operate high-capacity mobile pumps, and pre-positioning emergency supplies. To improve governance in a sector often hampered by informal practices, the project introduced performance-based contracting and ensured safe, supervised sludge disposal.
The World Bank embedded hands-on environmental and social support to accelerate compliance, helping the project unit set up grievance mechanisms, strengthen stakeholder engagement, and monitor environmental impacts. PILIER also boosted community preparedness through NGO grants and, together with the World Bank’s Geo-Enabling Initiative for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) team, developed digital tools for geospatial monitoring of cleaning operations.
Preventing floods in 2024 restored government confidence in resilience investments. The Minister of Finance subsequently allocated $50 million in additional IDA financing to PILIER for nationwide bridge reconstruction. Most importantly, the 2024 effort signaled a shift from reactive crisis response to a structured, evidence-based preparedness model, breaking the cycle of emergencies and helping the government institutionalize drainage maintenance and emergency capacity.
"Before, at this time of year, there were fewer customers and sales were down. Now, even with the heavy rains, people are still coming to the market". -Rémadji Aline, market vendor, City of N’Djamena
Contribution to WBG targets and jobs
The flood preparedness and response plan also supported jobs, creating over 800 jobs in 2024 with similar numbers expected each year.
In addition, it strengthened local governance and municipal services, helping Chad move toward climate-resilient urban development despite a high-fragility context.
The PILIER flood preparedness and response plan delivered strong climate adaptation results in 2024. It helped prevent a major disaster in N'Djamena and ensured the emergency operations met environmental and social standards.
Lessons learned
Early preparedness is far more effective and less costly than responding after a disaster. Cleaning the entire drainage network at once, using performance-based contracts and strong environmental and social safeguards, improved the quality and transparency of operations. Training local technicians and running regular drills strengthened long-term capacity and sustainability.
The experience also showed that governance standards, such as benchmarking, cost control, safe sludge disposal, and planned annual campaigns, are as critical as the physical works. Finally, community engagement and NGO partnerships helped restore trust and allowed residents to take part directly in risk reduction, underscoring that resilience in fragile and conflict-affected contexts depends on technical, institutional, and social investments.
Next steps
The World Bank Group will continue supporting Chad to institutionalize flood preparedness and reduce risk. Priority actions include expanding drainage in N’Djamena’s dense neighborhoods, reinforcing protection dikes, restoring the solid waste value chain to prevent clogs and overflow, integrating digital tools for remote monitoring and job tracking, and developing a long-term flood and waste management master plan. Beyond N’Djamena, the WBG will support the main secondary cities in assessing their flood risks through state-of-the-art technologies and developing a related investment plan.
To sustain results, the project will strengthen operations and maintenance, train municipal teams, plan annual dredging campaigns, and embed transparent governance standards. Through PILIER, the World Bank will also support policy reforms to sustainably finance drainage and solid waste management.
Lessons from 2024 will inform wider disaster risk management investments under PILIER and future national resilience programs.