According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), heavy rains in Somalia have led to floods that have displaced over 113,000 people and affected hundreds of thousands more. This comes just one year after the nation experienced its worst drought in 40 years, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 43,000 people due to a combination of violence, rising food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, and the drought itself.
The current rainfall season from October to December has seen intense downpours in several states like Puntland, Galmudug, South West, Hirshabelle, and along the Juba river in Jubbaland State. This increase in rainfall is attributed to the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, where the central and eastern Pacific waters become unusually warm and cause global weather pattern changes.
The latest update from OCHA states that over 706,100 people have been temporarily affected by the floods, with more than 113,690 people being displaced from their homes across the country. Southwest and Jubbaland states have been hit the hardest, with a total of approximately 536,608 affected individuals.
In the Luuq area of the southwest Gedo region, floods have trapped around 2,400 people. Efforts are underway to rescue them. In addition, around 14,000 families have been cut off from the main town in Baardhere.
In a previous incident this year, floods forced a quarter of a million people out of their homes when the Shabelle river in central Somalia overflowed and flooded the town of Beledweyne.
The impact of climate change on humanitarian emergencies has been widely acknowledged by aid agencies and scientists. These emergencies disproportionately affect individuals who are least responsible for CO2 emissions.
Written by George Obulutsa; Edited by Nick Macfie
