Brutal floods in Somalia have killed fifty people and forced nearly 700,000 people from their homes, a government official announced on Tuesday, November 21. Heavy rain showers are expected which could worsen the situation.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing heavy rainfall and flooding linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has claimed dozens of lives and led to widespread displacement, particularly in Somalia, where rains destroyed bridges and flooded residential areas.
“Fifty people died in the disaster; 687,235 people had to leave their homes,” Mahammud Moallim Abdullahi, director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency (Sodma), said during a press conference on Monday. “The rains expected between November 21 and 24 pose the risk of further flooding, which could cause death and destruction,” he added.
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1.7 million people are affected by the disaster
On Saturday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the number of people displaced by bad weather in Somalia had “nearly doubled in a week,” while a total of 1.7 million people were affected.
“In addition, roads, bridges and airstrips were damaged in several areas, affecting the movement of people and supplies and leading to an increase in the prices of essential goods,” OCHA said.
The British charity Save the Children said on Thursday that more than 100 people, including 16 children, had died and more than 700,000 people had been displaced from their homes in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia as a result of the flash floods.
The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most affected by climate change and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. The region is recovering from the worst drought in four decades, after several disappointing rainy seasons that left millions of people in need and destroyed crops and livestock.
Aid groups have warned that the situation will only get worse and called for urgent global intervention as El Niño is expected to last until at least April 2024.
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