Once-in-a-century flooding swamps Somalia after historic drought -UN

FILE PHOTO: A man attempts to rescue a boy from raging flood waters following heavy rains in Mogadishu, Somalia November 9, 2023. REUTERS/Feisal Omar/File Photo

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The United Nations has described floods that uprooted hundreds of thousands of people in Somalia and neighbouring countries in East Africa following a historic drought as a once-in-a-century event.

Around 1.6 million people in Somalia could be affected by the heavy seasonal downpours, which have been worsened by the combined impact of two climate phenomenons, El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement late on Thursday.