Somalia Floods Have Resulted In 22 Deaths, According To The UN

(CTN News) – A flash flood in central Somalia has killed 22 people and affected more than 450,000 people, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA reported on Sunday. Tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes as a result of the Shabelle River burst its banks.

As a result of heavy rainfall earlier in the week, water gushed into homes in Beledweyne town in the Hiran region, flooding streets and buildings as residents searched for refuge among flooded streets.

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been 460,470 deaths and 460,470 people affected across Somalia by flash floods and riverine floods, with nearly 219,000 people displaced, mainly in flood-prone areas, and 22 people killed by the floods.

Several homes and farmlands have been inundated, livestock has been washed away, schools and health facilities have been temporarily closed, and roads have been damaged, according to the Central Emergency Response Agency.

As a result of the disaster, millions of Somalis are facing famine following a record drought, while the country has also battled an Islamist insurgency for decades.

Many residents told AFP earlier this week that the floods had become a familiar experience to many of them, with experts stating that climate change is causing extreme weather events to occur more frequently and with greater intensity.

It was the fifth time that Fartun Ali, who is not her real name, had to flee flash in Beledweyne.

According to AFP, “whenever the river breaks its banks, we flee.”

As the rainy season approaches, East and Central Africa are often subjected to extreme weather conditions.

The floods and landslides that occurred earlier this month in several parts of Rwanda as a result of heavy rains lashed the hilly nation earlier this month, resulting in the death of 135 people and the displacement of more than 9,000.

It was reported last week that more than 400 people had lost their lives due to torrential downpours, floods and landslides in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Over 65 people were reported dead in Rwanda as a result of heavy rains that pounded the region in May 2020, whilst at least 194 people were reported dead in Kenya.

After two months of relentless rainfall across several countries in East Africa, at least 265 people have died and tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes at the end of 2019.

In Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, the extreme downpours in the area affected close to two million people and washed away tens of thousands of livestock.

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