Heavy rains and floods have been wreaking havoc across East Africa with over 300 deaths reported in different countries of the region. This situation is likely to exacerbate with the increased intensity of the ElNino-induced weather patterns linked to rising global temperatures.
The East African countries affected by the floods include Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. They have been hardest hit by the calamity and are dealing with the crisis at a time when the world is already facing the health, economic, and social fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the latest report, in Somalia alone, at least 37 people have lost their lives while more than 100,000 have been displaced. In other affected countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, the death toll is in double digits.
The rising waters have inundated major roads and destroyed thousands of homes. It has also been reported that over a million hectares of land used for crops have been flooded, thereby leading to food crises throughout the region.
The governments in each of the affected countries have been providing relief to the affected people by way of transport, food, shelter and other essentials. International organizations and non-profits have also been doing their bit to alleviate the suffering of the people, but the situation has become a humanitarian emergency of grave proportions.
The floods are being linked to a combination of factors including poor urban planning, deforestation, and over-extraction of groundwater, all of which have weakened the ground’s capacity to absorb excess water. Warmer temperatures are also said to be contributing to the rising water levels as increased evaporation makes atmospheric conditions drier and less hospitable to rainfall.
The long-term solution lies mainly in improved infrastructure and climate-adaptive measures that can better manage last minute disasters of this kind as well as ensure better access to drinking water and a sustained crop production. These measures will help to insulate vulnerable communities from climate-induced shocks in the future.
In the short term, however, it is imperative that governments and persons of goodwill come forward to extend a helping hand and provide the much needed support to the hundreds of thousands affected by the floods in East Africa.