Death toll from Somalia flooding climbs to nearly 100

Aerial view shows flooded fields following heavy rains in Baidoa. (Photo/Reuters)

The number of people killed by floods from heavy rains in Somalia has risen, state news agency SONNA said.

The flooding has been described as the worst in decades and has displaced about 700,000 people, according to the United Nations.

"Somalia's flood death toll climbs to 96," SONNA said on Saturday in a post on X, formerly Twitter, adding the figure had been confirmed by Mahamuud Moallim, the head of the country's disaster management agency.

Both are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall.

The intense rains have unleashed widespread flooding across the country, triggering displacement and exacerbating an already existing humanitarian crisis caused by years of insurgency.

In neighbouring Kenya, the floods have so far killed 76 people, according to the Kenyan Red Cross, and also unleashed widespread displacement, destruction of roads and bridges and left many residents without shelter, drinking and food supplies, according to the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

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Source: TRT