Somalia: Flash Floods - Oct 2020

The early rains received in northern parts of Somalia since the first week of September continued to spread across the region over the last one week, marking an early start of the Deyr 2020 rainy season. Normally, the Sept/Oct—Dec rainy season is expected to start in late September in the northern parts and mid October in the southern areas of the country. The Ethiopian highlands, which contribute to the Juba and Shabelle river flow, continued to receive moderate rains over the last one week. (FAO, 24 Sep 2020)

The 2020 Deyr rainy season has started with moderate to significantly heavy rains reported in Puntland and central regions of Hiraan, Bakool, Galgaduud, Mudug, Nugaal and southern areas of Sool region. The communities living in the riverine areas along Juba and Shabelle rivers are at high risk of flooding. As heavy rains are expected to continue in November and December, scaling up of livelihoods, improving and supporting health services and WASH facilities is vital in order to prevent further deterioration in food security and escalation of the public health crisis. (OCHA, 14 Oct 2020)

Flash floods triggered by Deyr seasonal rains (October-December) have affected nearly 20,000 people especially in Banadir region especially the capital of Mogadishu, Galmudug, South West and Jubaland states in the last two weeks. The floods have inundated swathes of farmland, damaged property and disrupted livelihoods at a time that Somalia is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and desert locusts in the northern region. (OCHA, 4 Nov 2020)

Hagaa season (June-September) riverine and flash floods have affected over 555,000 people in Hirshabelle, South West, Jubaland states as well as Sanaag and Banadir regions; of whom about 363,000 have been displaced from their homes. Over 85 per cent of the displacement occurred in the two most affected regions in the Shabelle river basin - Lower Shabelle (South West State) and Middle Shabelle (Hirshabelle State). The floods have inundated thousands of hectares of farmland and damaged property, irrigation infrastructure, water points and roads. Livelihoods have been disrupted and cases of acute watery diarrheoa have increased. The floods hit Somalia at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic have exacerbated humanitarian needs.Despite operational challenges, humanitarian partners scaled up first line response to flood affected populations, namely food assistance, health services, WASH services and emergency shelter and non-food items. (OCHA, 22 Nov 2020)