At least 50 people died and nearly 700,000 were forced to flee their homes in Somalia due to devastating floods caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, Somali officials announced.
The weather services are predicting heavy rain for Tuesday (November 21, 2023), which could worsen the situation, those responsible added. The rains and floods destroyed bridges and flooded residential areas, it said.
“Fifty people died in the disaster” and “687,235 people had to leave their homes,” said Mohamud Moalim Abdullahi, director of the Somali Disaster Management Authority.
“Rains expected between November 21 and 24 could lead to new flooding and further death and destruction,” he added.
Almost two million affected
In total, 1.7 million people were affected in one way or another by the disaster, according to the latest estimate from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) over the weekend.
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 affected by climate change.
Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense there. The region is recovering from the worst drought in forty years, which ruined crops and decimated livestock, leaving millions of people in dire straits.
Humanitarian organizations warned that the situation could only get worse, with the El Niño phenomenon expected to last at least until April 2024.
ct (afp, arabic news)