El Niño-fueled heavy rains and severe flooding continue to wreak havoc across East Africa, displacing thousands yet again, including many refugees who had already fled for their lives once.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is particularly concerned about the plight of refugees caught in the disaster. In Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps, home to over 380,000 people, nearly 20,000 have been displaced by rising water levels. Many are recent arrivals who escaped drought in neighboring Somalia. Schools have been flooded, latrines collapsed, and thousands now huddle in damaged shelters or with relatives, vulnerable to waterborne diseases.
Burundi is another hotspot. Around 32,000 refugees – nearly half the country’s refugee population – live in flood-affected areas. In the capital, Bujumbura, refugee families and locals alike have been forced to relocate repeatedly as water levels rise. Soaring food prices and flooded classrooms add to the misery.
Somalia and Tanzania haven’t been spared. Over 46,000 internally displaced people in Somalia have been forced to flee flash floods, while Tanzania’s refugee camps hosting Congolese and Burundian refugees have been impacted, damaging shelters for hundreds of families.
UNHCR is scrambling to provide crucial aid and protection services to refugees and affected communities. Relief items like tarpaulins, mosquito nets, and hygiene kits are being distributed, with special attention to vulnerable groups. Shelter kits and cash assistance are planned in Burundi, while Tanzania focuses on rehabilitating damaged shelters. In Somalia, essential items are being delivered to displaced families.
