Somalia: At least 29 killed, 300,000 displaced after worst floods in decades hit East Africa

At least 29 people were killed and more than 300,000 people were forced to flee their homes after Somalia was hit by one of the worst floods in decades, said the country’s National Disaster Management Agency, on Wednesday (Nov 8). Rainstorms have been hitting Somalia and its neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopiafrom the beginning of the month, triggering landslides and submerging villages and farms across the countries after they suffered the region’s worst drought in four decades.

What happened in Somalia?

“What is going on today is the worst for decades. It is worse than even the 1997 floods,” said Hassan Isse, managing director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SOMDA), as quoted by Reuters.

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The official also noted that the death toll as well as the number of people displaced is likely to rise further as many people were trapped by floodwaters.

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In addition to the death toll and those displaced at least 850,000 others have been affected, due to the floods, said Mohamed Moalim Abdullahi, chairman of SOMDA, late Tuesday, as per AFP.

At least 2,400 people have been cut off in Luuq town, where the Jubba River burst its banks, said the United Nations. Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, on Wednesday said rescue efforts were being delayed because roads had been cut.

“Inaccessible roads and stuck vehicles are just some of the challenges aid workers in Somalia are grappling with,” said the UN agency in a post on X, adding that they are “racing against time” to rescue 2,400 people trapped by rising flood waters in Luuq, on the road linking the Somalia-Ethiopia border with Baidoa.

“Luuq is surrounded by the river and floods are threatening us. People keep fleeing out of the town. Some are still trapped. Our shops have been washed away,” said Ahmed Nur, a trader in Luuq, as quoted by Reuters.

Situation in neighbouring countries

Since the beginning of this month, at least 15 people have been killed after flash flooding in Kenya, while more than 20 people have died and over 12,000 have been forced from their homes in Ethiopia’s Somali region.

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Floods in Kenya have also submerged a bridge in Uganda, cutting off a road linking Kampala to oilfields in the northwest, said Kenya Red Cross and Uganda’s road authority.

El Nino effect

Countries in the Horn of Africa are considered among the most vulnerable to climate change and are also particularly ill-equipped to cope with the crisis.

This time around, the regional deluge is said to have been caused by the combined effect of two weather phenomena, El Nino and the Indian Ocean Dipole, according to Nazanine Moshiri, a climate analyst at the International Crisis Group.

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Both El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall. Moshiri also noted that the impact of flooding is much worse as the soil was damaged from an “unprecedented recent drought” and “years of conflict.”

(With inputs from agencies)