United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday said heavy flash floods in Somalia have killed 24 people and more than 283,000 others were displaced.
In a statement, OCHA said the figures recorded from 28 districts that hit floods. The agency stated more than 701,000 people have been affected by the floods.
According to the statement, the worst affected states are Hirshabelle, Jubaland and South West with their numbers accounting for 88 percent of those affected by the floods.
The destruction caused by the floods is evidenced by the fact that most parts of an entire small town in Puntland were swept away by floodwaters.
According to the OCHA in Somalia, majority of the cases of flooding in the country have been caused by flash flooding.
Hundreds of people in the East and Horn of Africa regions have been killed while thousands of others have been displaced by heavy rains and the resulting floods and landslides.
The heavy rains have been caused by moisture dumped in the region by winds coming in from the Indian Ocean where temperatures have risen in recent months, according to Chris Shisanya, a professor of climatology in Nairobi, who spoke to Reuters.
Somalia is currently facing a triple threat of problems: the floods, the COVID-19 pandemic which is straining its already fragile health system and the desert locust infestation.
