MOGADISHU: Heavy rains that triggered flash flooding in Somalia have caused around half a million people to flee their homes and killed more than 30 people, a minister said on Sunday.
The Horn of Africa nation has been lashed by unrelenting downpours since the beginning of the month due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, inundating homes and farmland. The disaster comes on the heels of a record drought that has left millions of Somalis on the brink of famine.
“Half a million of people have fled from their houses due to the flooding,” said Information Minister Daud Aweis, warning that 1.2 million others could be affected.
He said government officials had confirmed the deaths of 31 people but “it is possible that the toll could be higher”.
The bulk of destruction is in Gedo region in southern Somalia and central Hiran region where the seasonal Shabelle River broke its banks, submerged roads and washed away properties in Beledweyne town. Around 200,000 people were displaced from Beledweyne when the river overflowed in May.
Somalia is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change but is particularly ill-equipped to cope with the crisis as it battles a deadly Islamist insurgency.
The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, last week said that the country was facing “once-in-a-century flooding” and warned that 1.6m people could be affected.
OCHA said the situation had been exacerbated by the combined impact of two climate phenomena, El Nino and the Indian Ocean Dipole — a climate system defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between western and eastern areas of the ocean.—
Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2023