Agadez, Niger: Its winding allies, ancient mosque and ochre earthen houses helped bestow on Agadez its UNESCO World Heritage status, but the town in Niger is now under threat from flooding.

Overflowing rivers are no longer a rarity in the vast arid nation on the edge of the Sahara Desert. But the rainy season this year has been particularly devastating, killing at least 270 people and affecting hundreds of thousands.

In Agadez — known as the gateway to the desert — forecasters say it’s “regularly” raining, even in areas where normally “rain never falls”.

“The old town in Agadez is suffering a lot of damage. Ponds are overflowing, many houses collapsed. Even the Grand Mosque wasn’t spared,” he told AFP.

The town, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) northeast of the capital, Niamey, was an important crossroads on the trans-Saharan caravan trade.

Once a tourist magnet and legendary staging post on the Paris-Dakar rally when the race crossed the Sahara, jihadist attacks plaguing the region have scared visitors away.