Drought-hit Horn of Africa Battles Raging and Unrelenting Floods
Nairobi — Gabriel Maluak, 39, watched in horror as raging floods swept away his vegetable farm and submerged his grass thatched house in South Sudan’s historic city of Bor.
“The floods started when we had cultivated some vegetables and swept everything away. Our grass thatched house was floating in water, we had no place to put our heads,” said the father of five.
Maluak and his family, like many others affected by the floods have been forced to live in internally displaced persons’ camps in the country. He is part of the more than 416,000 people displaced by floods in the country Between January 2022 to October 2022 as tracked by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Data Tracking Matrix (DTM).
South Sudan has seen recurrent flooding in the last four years which have led to massive displacement and exerting persistent pressure on the coping mechanisms affected communities. As a result, many people are unable to return to their homes.
The flooding is already worsening existing challenges in the country brought about by conflict, poverty, and rising cost of living.
Peter Reem has lived in Rubkona, Bentiu, in South Sudan’s Upper Nile for the better part of his life. The 45-year-old says the recent floods have been the worst he has seen in many years.
“We have never experienced something like this. The floods have destroyed everything, farmlands, animals are dying. We were from a crisis which caused a lot of destruction and now the floods have taken over the whole of Upper Nile,” he said.
Other countries in the East and Horn of Africa region (Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda) are battling the same issue. Raging floods are worsening humanitarian crisis in a region reeling from three consecutive years of record-breaking drought.
Habonimana Bosco, a father of seven has been practicing mixed farming in Gatumba region of Burundi but no longer does.
“I had 4 goats and a cotton field, but I no longer have any of those. I lost them all because of the floods in Gatumba. This is the third year we are facing the same situation of flooding,” he says
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are yet to recover from the effects of the worst drought in decades rendering more than 23 million people in these three countries food insecure.
In the affected countries, displacement numbers have risen especially in areas prone to landslides, and those close to water bodies as rivers break their banks. These have further compounded livelihood losses in drought-affected areas, including large scale livestock loss and erosion of fertile agricultural lands, damage to roads and infrastructure.
IOM is working with communities to develop solutions to migration in the face of climate change. This includes coping mechanisms for those who wish to stay. In South Sudan for instance, the Organization is working with communities to reclaim land for agriculture and cattle grazing.
Climate change is driving extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods in the region forcing thousands of people to leave their homes in search of safety or food and or water for themselves and their livestock.
“A coordinated approach to climate change and its devastating impact on human mobility, is long overdue. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest sixth Assessment Report clearly tells us that the wide-reaching impact of climate change is only going to continue and even intensify,” said Lisa Lim Ah Ken, Regional Thematic Specialist, Migration Environment and Climate Change, IOM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa.
“A lot of expectation is placed on the climate change experts as we go forward towards the implementation of the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on MECC, the first comprehensive, regional policy framework on the topic, and IOM is committed to supporting them to deliver, for the benefit of migrants and other vulnerable populations.”
This story was written by Kenneth Odiwuor, Communication Officer, IOM Regional Office for the East and Horn of Africa
