JOWHAR, Somalia – The President of Hirshabelle, Ali Gudlawe Hussein arrived in Mahaday District to assess the situation after flash floods resulting from heavy rains in Somalia.
Ali Guudlawe said, “We have reached the Mahaday district where the floods of the river and the rains have caused a difficult humanitarian situation,”.
The president noted that thousands of families are now homeless, calling on the Somali people at home and abroad as well as the aid agencies to help the flood-hit poor people.
Following Somalia’s worst floods in a century, gushing waters have swept through several towns in Gedo, Bay, Hiran, and Lower Shabelle regions with reports of nearly 40 deaths.
SoDMA said floods will continue, after rising water levels in the Jubba and Shabelle Rivers following torrential rains in parts of the country and the Ethiopian highlands.
The floods, which followed heavy rains that started in early October, have already forced over 456,800 to flee from their houses, according to the aid agencies and local officials.
Somalia experiences two types of flooding: river floods and flash floods. River floods occur along the Juba and Shabelle rivers in Southern Somalia, whereas flash floods are common along the intermittent streams in the northern part of the country.
