Flooding from a flash flood in central Somalia has displaced around 200,000 people, a regional official from that Horn of Africa country said on Saturday (13).
Flooding of the Shebelle River in the town of Beledweyne in the Hiran region forced thousands of residents to flee their homes.
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“Some 200,000 people are currently displaced by the Shebelle River flash flood in the city of Beledweyne, and that number could increase,” said Ali Osman Hussein, deputy governor for social affairs in Hiran.
“We are doing everything we can to help those affected,” he told AFP.
The region’s deputy governor Hassan Ibrahim Abdulle said on Friday that “three people” had died from the floods.
Some residents told AFP that they were forced to evacuate their homes suddenly in the middle of the night as water flooded streets and buildings this week.
“All we could do was go out and save our children. We didn’t take any belongings with us,” reported one of them, Iman Badal Omar.
In southern Somalia, heavy rains in March threw communities into chaos, destroying or damaging bridges, roads and homes. At least 14 people died then.
The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most affected by climate change. Crises are becoming more and more frequent and severe.
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