Somalia in state of emergency due to intense flooding caused by El Nino phenomenon

SIBY JEYYA
Initially, several families fled from drought and violence. They now claim they have nowhere to shelter from the extreme floods caused by the meteorological phenomenon El Nio, which has devastated significant regions of Somalia. According to the country's Council of Ministers, floods have killed at least 96 people. Among the worst-affected communities is Beledweyne, where the Shabelle River has broken its banks, destroying numerous houses and forcing people to evacuate to higher ground near the Ethiopian data-border.
Hakima Mohamud Hareed, a mother of four children, one of whom is crippled, stated that her family is continually on the lookout for refuge. The family relocated to Beledweyne after fleeing clashes between the terrorist organization al-Shabab and Somali government troops. "We left our home in search of safety and stability, but little did we know that we would end up facing another calamity," she told me over the phone. The floodwaters damaged the family's modest, worn tent in the Beledweyne refugee camp of Kutiimo. The moist and frail cloth is whipped by the wind.

"The floods washed away all our belongings, so we were left only with our lives," she went on to say. "It was a traumatic experience for all of us." They're not alone. According to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, the flooding has displaced an estimated 250,000 people or 90% of Beledweyne's population.
In October, Somalia's federal government issued a state of emergency after severe weather, exacerbated by El Nio, devastated houses, roads, and bridges. 
El Nio is a natural, transitory, and sporadic warming of a region of the Pacific that alters weather patterns throughout the world, frequently by shifting storm trajectories in the air. It is most severe from december to February. Scientists think that climate change is causing El Nio to become more powerful.

Many sections of somalia, as well as neighbouring Horn of Africa countries kenya and Ethiopia, are currently experiencing heavy rains, which humanitarian organisations characterise as an unusual flooding scenario.
The United Nations-backed Somali Water and Land Information Management project has warned of "a flood event of a magnitude statistically likely only once every 100 years," according to a recent statement from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Flooding occurrences in somalia might affect 1.6 million people throughout the rainy season, which lasts until december, according to the report.
Beledweyne, located in Hiran's centre district, may be the most destroyed village. Homes were wiped away as floods surged through.



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