NAIROBI: More than 100 people, including sixteen children, have died and over 700,000 been forced out of their homes in the Horn of Africa due to flash flooding, the British charity said on Thursday.
The region, particularly Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, has been lashed by unrelenting rains since the beginning of November due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, inundating homes and farmland.
Nearly 46 people had died in Kenya, thirty-two in Somalia and another thirty-three in Ethiopia, Save the Children said, warning the downpours were showing no signs of slowing down.
The Horn of Africa is one of the region’s most vulnerable to climate change and natural calamities are occurring with increased intensity and frequency.
The region is emerging from the worst drought in 4 decades after multiple failed rainy seasons that left millions of people in need and devastated livestock and crops.
Ethiopia director for Save the Children Xavier Joubert said that heavy flooding and displacement have cut off children and families from basic services including access to food, water, healthcare, and hygiene services.
He said that with that comes the real risk of waterborne diseases including measles and cholera.
Humanitarian organizations have warned that the situation is only likely to worsen and urged for urgent global intervention as El Nino is expected to last until at least April next year.
El Nino is typically associated with increased heat globally, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.
Natural calamities in Horn of Africa
Between October 1997 and January 1998, devastating floods caused by El Nino led to over 6,000 deaths in five Horn of Africa nations.
At least 1,800 people perished in Somalia where the Juba River burst its banks.
At the end of 2019, 265 people perished and tens of thousands were displaced during two months of relentless downpours in several countries in East Africa.
