Heavy rain pounds Mogadishu, roads flooded and transport hindered

Despite a severe drought in several regions of Somalia, many of Mogadishu people were caught unwares by rains that pounded the city on Monday morning.

The downpour resulted into floods with major roads like Mogadishu-Afgooye road rendered impassable due to poor drainage.

The downpour in Mogadishu on Monday left residents of IDP camps counting losses after floodwaters washed houses and rendered paths impassable.

Dozens of houses in the camps were partially submerged in water, displacing families and damaging household property.

Last Thursday, The United Nations’ aid chief for Somalia begged for cash to stave off starvation amid intense drought affecting a million people and to pull the war-torn country “back from the tipping point.”

“Urgent action is required right now. If not, we risk a rapid and deep deterioration of the situation, as drought conditions may worsen in the coming months,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Peter de Clercq said, appealing for $105 million (92 million euros) for “life-saving” aid for more than one million people.

Northern Somali areas, including self-declared independent Somaliland along the Gulf of Aden and semi-autonomous Puntland, are especially hard hit, with some 385,000 people in acute need of food aid, with that figure feared to quadruple without help.

Severe drought and conflict in Somalia caused a famine in 2010-2012 that eventually killed a quarter of a million people.

A similar number died during the previous 1992 famine. The warning also comes as neighbouring Ethiopia struggles to combat its worst drought for 30 years, with at least 10.2 million people needing food aid.