At least 111 dead after flash floods in the Horn of Africa
At least 111 people have been killed in the Horn of Africa in recent weeks following heavy rainfall and flash floods. This was reported by the aid organization Save the Children. More than 770,000 people have already been displaced in the region in the north-east of the continent due to the extreme weather. Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have been particularly hard hit. Further heavy rainfall is forecast for the region.
According to the aid organization, heavy rainfall in northern Kenya and the capital Nairobi has caused widespread flooding since October, killing an estimated 46 people and displacing 36,000 others. In the Somali regional capital of Beledweyne, in the center of the country, around 90 percent of residents have lost their homes due to flooding. In total, at least 32 people have been killed and almost half a million displaced in Somalia, most of them in the south-western Bay region.
According to Save the Children, at least 33 people, including eight children, have also been killed by floods and landslides in the Gambella, Afar and Somali regions of neighboring Ethiopia.
The floods are the latest in a series of extreme weather events in the Horn of Africa. The region is also experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades. Before the massive rainfall, there had been no rainfall for several consecutive periods. According to the UN, millions of people in the Horn of Africa are threatened by hunger. The crisis is also being triggered by conflicts such as the recent power struggle in Sudan, the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the threat posed by Islamist terrorists and outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.
The drought in the Horn of Africa has only worsened the situation, exacerbating hunger among the region's residents. The climate change-induced weather patterns have brought not only drought but also unexpected storms, leading to floods in several areas. The heavy rains and subsequent flooding in Kenya and other regions have unfortunately resulted in additional casualties and displacement.
Source: www.dpa.com
