OAN’s Abril Elfi
12:43 PM – Saturday, November 18, 2023
The death toll continues to rise from flooding in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
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At least 130 people have died in the three African countries as a result of heavy rains that aid officials described as occurring only once every 100 years.
The National Disaster Management Agency stated that at least 51 people have been killed across Somalia alone and a half-million displaced since the rains started in October.
They also reported that emergency responders are concerned that the death toll will grow in Somalia because many individuals are still missing as after highways and bridges were washed away, parts of the country remained blocked off and unreachable, stranding thousands of citizens.
“The national army has sent rescue boats and emergency helicopters to help the people trapped by floods. We are appealing for international help” the National Disaster Management Agency said.
According to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, the town of Beledweyne in central Somalia was totally drowned after the Shabelle River burst its banks, displacing an estimated 250,000 people, or 90% of the population.
Last month, the Somali federal government declared a state of emergency after severe weather, exacerbated by the natural weather phenomenon El Nino, devastated homes, roads, and bridges.
In neighboring Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross Society claimed that hundreds of houses were carried away along the coast and in northern Kenya, killing more than 50 people and displacing at least 30,000 people.
Tana River County Commissioner Mohammed Noor spoke to reporters stating that the situation also was desperate in his region, where the floods have displaced about 7,000 households.
According to Ethiopian authorities, the death toll from the floods has risen to 30 in their country as a result of “unrelenting rainfall in the Gambella, Afar, and Somali regions.”
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