The number of individuals killed by floods from heavy rains in Somalia has reached 96, according to state news agency SONNA via a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, November 25.
SONNA had also revealed that the figure had been confirmed by Mahamuud Moallim, the head of the country’s disaster management agency.
Somalia has been assaulted by relentless heavy rains that began in October 2023, an incident that was caused by the El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole weather phenomena.
Both phenomena are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause an over-average rainfall.
The flooding has been described as the worst one to happen in decades and has unsettled about 700,000 people, according to a report by the United Nations.
The severe rains have unleashed widespread flooding across the country, setting off displacement and intensifying an already existing humanitarian crisis caused by years of insurgency and conflict.
In the neighbouring country, Kenya, the floods have killed at least 76 people, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.
The floods also unleashed widespread displacement, damaging roads and bridges and leaving a lot of residents without shelter, drinking and food supplies, according to the charity Médecins Sans Frontières, –MSF.