Monday May 21, 2018
By Harun Maruf
People evacuate their homes through waist-deep flood water in Mogadishu, May 20, 2018, after homes were inundated in Somalia's capital following heavy overnight rainfall.
AWDAL, SOMALIA/WASHINTON — More than 30 people were killed and dozens of others are still
missing after a tropical cyclone and heavy rains hit the Horn of Africa
over the weekend.
Cyclone Sagar slammed into the Horn Saturday and Sunday, and local
officials say Sagar was the strongest storm ever recorded in the area.
Mogadishu Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman told VOA Somali that the storm
killed at least six people. More than than 300 homes in the Somali
capital are under water following heavy rains.
Authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland confirmed at
least 25 people in the Awdal, Sahel and Salal regions. Most of the
victims were be swept away by flash floods, residents said.
An official in the Salal region, Abdi Abdullahi Elmi, told VOA Somali
that the death toll could rise as rescue teams try to reach remote
areas of the region affected by the rains.
A statement from the office of Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi said 12 people were injured and 27 are still missing.
The statement said 669,000 people have been affected by the cyclone,
large numbers of crops were destroyed and 80 percent of the livestock in
Somaliland were killed. It appealed to the international community for
humanitarian support to help those affected.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said more than 10,000 people were
displaced in Somaliland, and homes and fishing boats were destroyed in
Puntland. The NRC also reported the deaths of two people in Djibouti,
where it said 20,000 people are affected by flooding.