Jigjigo (Halbeeg News) – Floods have killed at least 33 people in southeastern parts of Ethiopia since October this year, UN confirmed.
According to a statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), close to a million people in the regions were affected by the torrential rains in the region.
“Floods, since rains started in October, have affected at least 763,100 people across several regions and 33 lives lost in the Somali region alone, and immense damage has been brought to health, transportation, school infrastructure and livelihoods,” the UNOCHA said in an Ethiopia flash floods update issued late Thursday.
Noting that resources and the response capacity are limited, the UNOCHA said the current response in flood-affected areas is not meeting the scale of demands for lifesaving assistance.
“Urgent mobilization of resources and scaled-up response are required,” it warned.
It said only 8 percent of over 611,000 affected people in Ethiopia’s Somali region were reached. It said many flood areas remain inaccessible and hard to reach as multiple routes and bridges are damaged.
Scientists say climate change has made weather extremes — from heat to drought, to floods — worse around the world, including in the Horn of Africa, where just a few months ago, parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan experienced the worst drought in 40 years following five failed rainy seasons.
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