Somalia left reeling as Shabelle River floods intensify amidst worsening climate catastrophe

Al Mayadeen reports shocking news: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urgently begs for funds as central Somalia struggles with devastating floods. Tragically, 22 people have already lost their lives, and over 450,000 have been affected. The Shabelle River, which previously had a protective wall, couldn’t bear the force of these recent intense floods.

The consequences have been harrowing: floods submerging homes and farmland, washing away livestock, closing schools and health facilities, and damaging roads. It comes in the wake of an already severe drought that left many Somalis near famine.

Experts say that these extreme weather events are increasingly frequent and intense due to climate change. East and Central Africa are no strangers to extreme weather during the rainy seasons, and previous heavy rains have devastated Rwanda and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, costing hundreds of lives and displacing tens of thousands. In late 2019, over two million people across East Africa suffered from unrelenting rainfall that caused massive destruction in many countries.