At least 130 people have died in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia following heavy rains that triggered what aid agencies described as flooding seen only once every 100 years.
Somalia bore the brunt of the flash floods that inundated the Horn of Africa region. The National Disaster Management Agency said 51 people have been killed across the country and a half-million displaced since the rains started in October.
Emergency workers fear the death toll could rise since there were many people still unaccounted for. Parts of the country remained cut off and inaccessible after roads and bridges were washed away, marooning thousands of residents.
“The national army has sent rescue boats and emergency helicopters to help the people trapped by floods. We are appealing for international help” the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Humanitarian group Save the Children said the town of Beledweyne in central Somalia was completely submerged after the Shabelle River burst its banks, forcing an estimated 250,000 people, or 90 per cent of the population, out of their homes.
Meanwhile, heavy rains pounded the streets of Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, with some passengers evacuated from a flooded bus by holding on to a rope amid chest-high water.
Others stood on top of the bus with umbrellas and raincoats as they waited for their turn to pull themselves to safety in Kisauni district, nearly 500km from the capital Nairobi.
Authorities in Ethiopia said that country’s death toll from the floods reached 30 following “unrelenting rainfall in the Gambella, Afar and Somali regions.” They reported that children were among the victims who drowned while trying to flee the flood waters.
Scientists say climate change has made weather extremes – from heat to drought, to floods – worse around the world, including in the Horn of Africa, where just a few months ago, parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan experienced the worst drought in 40 years following five failed rainy seasons.
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