Heavy rains and floods have killed scores of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others across East Africa in recent weeks. governments and the United Nations saidThis underscores the increasing climate threats in a politically and economically turbulent region.

At least 179 people have been killed in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to the United Nations and government agencies, and some regional authorities believe the numbers are most likely higher.

The torrential rains, which have also devastated other countries such as Burundi, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda, have affected more than three million people in a region that was already suffering Worst drought in four decades.

Since 2020 the drought conditions, exacerbated by climate changehave decimated crops and livestock and left millions of people behind hungry and malnourishedAnd Hundreds of children died.

The United Nations has attributed The heavier than usual rainfall is due to two climatic events: the El Niño phenomenonwhich originates in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and whose conditions release additional heat into the atmosphere, and a similar phenomenon known as Dipole in the Indian Ocean.

The floods have damaged homes, bridges and schools, according to aid groups, which have warned of a rise in outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and malaria.

In Somalia, where 1.7 million people were affected by the floods, the government declared a state of emergency in October. The UN said the country faces “Flood of the centuryMost of those affected live in the south of the country, where heavy rain caused the two main rivers to overflow their banks and flooded houses and farms.

According to government spokesman Farhan Jimale, at least 96 people in the country have died in the floods, including children.

“We were sleeping when the water flowed into our house,” Faiza Ahmed Farah, a mother of five from the southwestern town of Hudur in Somalia, said in a telephone interview. “The floods took away everything. All we could do was save the children.”

With bridges destroyed and road networks largely impassable, authorities fear they may not be able to quickly rescue displaced people or provide food aid.

There was heavy rain in Kenya killed more than 60 peopleAccording to the United Nations, thousands of people have also been displaced in cities in the west and northeast, while entire neighborhoods have been flooded in the coastal district of Mombasa this month. according to the Kenya Red Cross.

The rains have devastated the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya, which is home to around 300,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia. In Hagadera, one of the complex’s camps, cases of diarrhea have doubled in just two weeks, the International Rescue Committee said in an emailed statement.

Thousands of people in another Dadaab camp were forced to leave their makeshift shelters and move to schools. According to Doctors Without Borders. With supplies limited, aid organizations fear outbreaks of water-borne diseases and malnutrition in the camp.

Similar devastation also occurred in neighboring countries, including Ethiopia, where heavy rain caused flooding Large parts of the country in several regions are under wateraccording to the UN

Thousands of homes have been flooded across Sudan in recent weeks as millions flee seven-month civil war. The rising water has displaced thousands more people in parts South Sudana landlocked country that has already suffered from violence and malnutrition for years.

Governments are currently scrambling to raise money to reach those in need, including in Kenya, where disputes over the allocation of funds for flood victims have sparked a national debate. And the United Nations and other aid agencies have said funding is needed to meet growing humanitarian needs went back in parts of the region.

Hussein Mohamed Contribution to reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.