The National Disaster Management Agency on Wednesday said the worst flooding to hit Somalia in decades has killed 29 people and forced more than 300,000 to flee their homes.

Authorities have scrambled to rescue thousands of stranded people from the floodwater, which came on the heels of the region’s worst drought in 40 years following heavy rains that have inundated towns across East Africa.

Hassan Isse, managing director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, said, “What is going on today is the worst for decades. It is worse than even the 1997 floods.”

Mr Isse said the death toll and number of people displaced were likely to rise further because floodwaters trapped many people.

Mohamed Farah, a local elder in Baidoa in southwest Somalia, said, “I do not remember such floods in my life. People keep on evacuating, looking for high ground.”

The UN said at least 2,400 people have been cut off in Luuq town, where the Jubba River burst its banks.

“Luuq is surrounded by the river and floods are threatening us. People keep fleeing out of the town. Some are still trapped. Our shops have been washed away,” said Ahmed Nur, a trader in Luuq.

The Kenya Red Cross and Uganda’s Road Authority said floods in neighbouring Kenya have killed at least 15 people and submerged a bridge in Uganda, cutting off a road linking Kampala to oilfields in the northwest.

Nazanine Moshiri, a climate analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the regional deluge was caused by the combined effect of two weather phenomena, El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole.

El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall.

“The impact of the flooding is much worse because the soil is so damaged from an unprecedented recent drought years of conflict and al Shabaab militia’s presence also makes building flood defences and resilience more complex and costly,” Mr Moshiri said.

Scientists said climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events.

In response, African leaders have proposed new global taxes and reforms to international financial institutions to help fund climate change action. 

(Reuters/NAN)