OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Almost 90,000 people have been driven from their homes by flooding in Burkina Faso, the United Nations said Thursday.

The country is one of the hardest hit by recent flooding in western Africa, a U.N. disaster relief team said. Regionally, the floods have taken at least 160 lives and affected an estimated 600,000 people.

Burkina Faso, a landlocked country with a population of about 13 million, is one of the poorest nations in the world. The floods have destroyed or damaged the Central University Hospital, roads and bridges, schools and farmland, the U.N. team said.

The hardest-hit area was the capital, Ouagadougou, and its region.

About 40,000 people displaced by floods are living with families, while 48,000 are in temporary shelters in schools, churches and government buildings. In those shelters, sanitation has become difficult.

Other countries affected by the floods include Sierra Leone, Ghana, Senegal and Niger.