OCHA Situation Report No. 2
Horn of Africa: Floods
1 December 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Torrential rains over the Greater Horn of Africa since early October
have caused severe flooding along the Juba and Shabelle rivers and their
major tributaries in Ethiopia's Somali Region and southern Somalia.
Heavy rains have also led to severe flooding along the Tana River in
eastern Kenya particularly around Wajir and Garissa. The floods have
affected some 100,000 Somali refugees in the Dadaab refugee camp complex
in the same area. More recently, heavy rains have also caused floods in
the western parts of Kenya.

The upper reaches of the Juba and Shabelle Rivers have begun to
stabilize. However, recent rains have raised concern that the levels may
begin to rise again and downstream flooding from Juba and Shabelle is
expected to continue for at least the next few weeks.

Over the coming days, moderate to heavy rains are expected to continue
across southern Somalia, Kenya and southern Ethiopia. As a result,
flooding problems will persist. Ocean water temperature patterns in the
Indian Ocean - El Nino - are conducive to continued heavy rain
indicating flooding problems well into 2007.

Current estimates put the number of affected people to 361,000 in
Ethiopia's Somali Region and the death toll here is 80. In Somalia, the
death toll rose to 116 after at least 20 people died in the north of the
country after an outbreak of diarrhoea, and an estimated 330,000 are
directly affected, though other estimates go as high as 900,000. In
Kenya, available information put flood-related deaths at some 34 people
and the number of affected populations rising from initial estimates
ranging between 300,000 and 500,000 to over 700,000 according to WFP and
the Kenya Red Cross. The latter says that 723,000 are in need of
immediate assistance.

There are reports of massive loss of crop and livestock in affected
areas where resources in the agro-pastoralist communities are already
stretched to the limit due to a prolonged drought.

The main constraint on humanitarian assistance being access to the
affected populations, airlifts of food and relief items as well as
humanitarian personnel are crucial at this point. WFP has begun
operating helicopter and fixed-wing transport from accessible airstrips
in the region.

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