More than 20 people have died in the area, and many have been displaced from their houses.
In the Somali Region of Ethiopia, flooding brought on by heavy rains has killed and displaced hundreds of people, the local authority said on Saturday.
The Somali Regional State Communication Office released a statement saying, “At this point, more than 20 people have died in the floods, and more than 12,000 families have been displaced.” Rescue operations have allegedly been complicated by the difficulty in accessing the impacted areas due to the collapse of bridges and roadways.
Citing data from the UN Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA), the daily Le Monde has linked the El Nino weather phenomena to the above-average rainfall that occurred in East Africa between October and December. El Nino causes the Pacific jet stream to shift further eastward and south, which frequently results in high temperatures in some areas and torrential rains in others, such as East Africa.
The OCHA said on Saturday that since the beginning of the monsoon season in the Somali Region, which runs from October to December, “Floods due to heavy rains have affected at least 405,652 people, with fourteen deaths.” It further stated, “At least 47,100 people have moved to higher grounds to avoid the risk of flooding.”
The torrential rains that began last month have also caused flooding in the areas near the banks of the Juba River in the state of Jubbaland, Somalia.
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The Shabelle River flooded earlier this year, submerging the Somalian town of Beledweyne and causing over 250,000 residents to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, flooding also hit Ghana three weeks ago. When the Akosombo Dam burst during the rainy season, about 4,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
Over two million people have been impacted by the recent extreme weather events, which have also destroyed thousands of livestock animals in Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Uganda.
“Floods are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. The Kenya Red Cross Society has declared that funding for climate adaption strategies is desperately needed in order to shield communities from the devastation caused by floods and other unfavourable weather conditions.
