Dozens dead and thousands trapped in Somalia’s ‘worst floods in decades’

Fatima Abdi, 50, an internally displaced Somali woman, sits inside her flooded makeshift shelter, on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, November 6, 2023 [Feisal Omar/Reuters]

Somalis are struggling to cope with never-before-seen flooding that has killed dozens of people and forced hundreds of thousands to abandon their homes, in the wake of extreme rainfall that has engulfed much of East Africa.

Following days of heavy torrents, at least 29 people have been killed and more than 300,000 have fled their homes for safety, Somalia’s National Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) said on Wednesday, calling the phenomenon the most severe in “decades”.