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At least 214,000 people have been temporarily displaced from their homes in Somalia since October due to flooding caused by heavy rains, the UN agency OCHA said on Monday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest Flood Update that displacement has occurred in the southwestern states of Jubaland, Hirshabelle and Galmudug, as well as in the Banadir region.
“Low-lying areas along the Shabelle River have remained flooded since July following heavy Hagaa rains (July-September) within the Shabelle basin in Somalia and the Ethiopian highlands,” OCHA said.
He said that most of the displacements occurred in the two worst affected regions in the Shabelle River basin, Lower Shabelle (South West State) and Middle Shabelle (Hirshabelle State).
In the southwestern state city of Baidoa, the UN agency said more than 66,000 people, including internally displaced persons, have been affected, of which 6,000 have been displaced.
On October 28, OCHA said that some 35 people had died, while nearly 1.6 million more were affected by the floods between January and September.
The UN aid agency said thousands of hectares of agricultural land have been flooded, particularly along river basins, increasing the risk of water-borne diseases.
Somali authorities and aid agencies are calling for urgent help, especially clean water, emergency shelter and food.
According to OCHA, assistance is also required to drain standing water in order to mitigate the risk of waterborne diseases and to reinforce sand barriers along river break points.
The 2020 Deyr rainy season has started with moderate to significantly heavy rains in Puntland and the central regions of Hiraan, Bakool, Galgaduud, Mudug, Nugaal and the southern parts of the Sool region.
He said communities vulnerable to persistent weather shocks, the locust plague and the COVID-19 pandemic, are already facing severe food and water shortages and are at risk of deadly communicable diseases such as the cholera outbreak and acute watery diarrhea .
