Somali authorities reported on Tuesday that at least 50 people had died and nearly 700,000 had to leave their homes as a result of floods in the country.
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Somali Disaster Management Agency director Mohamud Moalim Abdullahi said that “fifty people died in the disaster” while 687,235 people were forced to evacuate their homes.
In this sense, the weather services pointed out that the heavy rains will continue, while the official added that “the rains expected between November 21 and 24 could lead to new floods and more deaths and destruction.”
1.7 million people were affected by the torrential rains and floods #Somalia.@A and partners, together with local communities, have increased support for the affected people. At least 743,000 people have received life-saving assistance since October: https://t.co/9BF3HOp6Bt pic.twitter.com/Kzmv7WS2Ki
— UN Humanitarian Aid (@UNOCHA)
November 21, 2023
According to the latest estimate by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a total of 1.7 million people were affected in one way or another by the disaster.
“The number of people displaced by heavy rains and floods in Somalia has almost doubled in a week. Around 649,000 people are currently displaced, compared to 334,800 on November 8,” OCHA noted.
In this sense, OCHA emphasized that the Horn of Africa, which includes Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the east of the continent opposite the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the regions most at risk from climate change.
Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense in this region as the region also emerges from its worst drought in forty years.