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Background information
Shortly after Somalia began to recover from the brink of famine in 2023, the population was struck by heavy rainfall and flooding attributed to the El Niño weather phenomena. This disaster affected the population, driving over four million people (21% of the population) into elevated levels of food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 3 (crisis) between January and March 2024.
According to Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) findings, the current figure represents a 20 percent reduction in the number of food insecure people in comparison to the same period last year, when approximately five million people were classified in Phase 3 due to the protracted drought.
Although improvement of food security situation was expected in the projected period from April to June 2024, heavy rains in the months of April and May have led to localized floodings which affected an estimated 203,438 people across Somalia, displacing 37,120 people and led to the deaths of nine people including seven children2 . The flash floods also inundated infrastructure including roads, bridges, and airstrips especially in southern Somalia, making roads temporarily impassable thereby affecting communities and displaced sites.
An estimated 1.7 million children aged below six are facing acute malnutrition in 2024, including 430,000 who are likely to be severely malnourished due to poor food access, diseases such as acute watery diarrhea, low health and nutrition services, poor access to improved drinking water and sanitation.
According to UNFPA, Somalia is seeing worsening gender-based violence (GBV) exacerbated by armed conflicts and inter-clan tension, compounded by the impacts of El Niño floods. These overlapping crises pose significant threats to women and girls, heightening feminized poverty by affecting livelihoods of female-headed households, disrupting essential health services for pregnant and lactating women, limiting mobility, and impeding formal education opportunities.
While the NGO community in Somalia acknowledges and appreciates the generous donors who funded the Somalia drought response plan, consequently averting famine in 2023, humanitarian agencies are concerned about the slow response in funding the 2024 HRP – a delay that could lead to severe food insecurity.
In light of the increasing number of people requiring urgent assistance, the 2024 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) is currently 12% funded, despite nearly half of the year having passed. The Somali NGO Consortium appeals to countries, institutional donors, corporations, the Somali diaspora, philanthropic individuals to put forward funding to ensure full support of the 2024 Somali HRP.
Key messages
Flash Floods in Somalia: Urgent Calls for Funding and Action
• We express our gratitude to donors for their generous support this far and urgently appeal for additional and flexible funding to further scale-up and enhance humanitarian operations. This funding is crucial to address the impacts of the ongoing flash floods and increased humanitarian needs.
• We, the national and international NGOs continue to assist the affected people with limited resources in hand. However, without a significant increase in funding from donors, we cannot adequately respond to the escalating needs. We call on donors to increase their commitments, cut and/or reduce red tape to release and allocate funds.
• We call upon all donors to urgently contribute to the current humanitarian appeal. This funding is essential to address the humanitarian needs resulting from the impact of the 2022 – 2023 drought, El Niño rains and the current flash floods.
• The humanitarian crisis has led to increased protection and GBV risks, especially for women and children, who make up over 80 percent of the displaced population. During the flooding, protection issues are exacerbated immensely. We call upon donors to adequately fund protection and GBV programming as part of a comprehensive multi-sectoral response.
• Urgent action is imperative to address acute malnutrition among the Somali children, with over 400,000 at risk of severe malnutrition. Immediate measures are needed to prevent children from wasting and reduce child mortality.
• All actors must ensure inclusive, principled and efficient assistance during response efforts, working in coordination towards common goals while protecting the dignity of all people. Ensure no one is left out in humanitarian response.
• We urge donors to honor the localization commitments of the Grand Bargain and provide direct and flexible funding to national NGOs, and particularly those led by women, youth and minority groups, who are well-placed to urgently respond to the most vulnerable and minimize further displacements.
• Ongoing conflict and insecurity pose significant challenges in reaching the most vulnerable people, making it increasingly perilous for aid workers to operate in some areas of the country. All parties have an obligation to save lives, and we call for urgent and unimpeded access to the affected populations.