The death toll from the rains in Somalia rises to more than 20, leaving nearly 100,000 homeless

4 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

At least 23 people have died as a result of the first torrential rains of the rainy season in Somalia, according to the latest balance provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which has raised the death toll to nearly 100,000. affected by floods.

The agency has indicated that “three weeks after the early start of the Gu rains – which usually take place between April and June – in Somalia, about 100,000 people have been affected by torrential rains and floods in many areas “, before specifying that 21 deaths have been registered in the Bardhere district, in the Jubaland region.

Thus, he has detailed that among the fatalities there are six children and has stressed that a total of 78,000 affected reside in Bardhere, where the homes of nearly 9,000 families have also been destroyed or damaged. “The floods have also destroyed six sanitary facilities, 200 latrines and four schools,” she said, while detailing that “more than a thousand hectares” of land have been flooded.

The OCHA has specified that in the regions of Togdhir and Audal (north) two people have died due to flooding, before asserting that “moderate and heavy rains in the highlands of Ethiopia are the main cause of the increase in flow in the Shabelle and Yuba rivers”. “The risk of flooding in the Yuba River is high this week,” the agency warned.

On the other hand, he stressed that the rains and floods come after five dry seasons that have displaced more than 1.4 million people and killed 3.8 million head of cattle since mid-2021. “Although the rains and river waters will give some relief to drought-stricken communities, the prolonged nature of the drought and projections show a 50-50 chance of below-normal rainfall from the Gu.”

The Gu, in its most moderate version, is an essential rainy season for Somali farmers and ranchers as it is the main means of replacing crops and pastures in the face of the dry months but, according to UN experts, everything points to the fact that the country will once again suffer its sixth consecutive season of rains below the average, an unprecedented phenomenon since the beginning of the studies in this regard and even despite the rainfall in recent days.