Tropical cyclone strikes East Africa, at keast 20 dead

More than 20 people are believed to have died and thousands have been affected after tropical cyclone Sagar landed in the Horn of Africa over the weekend.

Heavy rains have caused flooding across the region, with pictures showing people wading through the streets of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The privately owned Radio Dalsan said six people had died in the city as a result of the storm.

Meanwhile, Abdirahman Ahmed Ali, governor of the Awdal area in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, said 15 people had died in his region over the weekend.

Djibouti has also been struck, with the UN saying Djibouti City and the suburb of Balbala among the hardest hit.

The UN says tens of thousands of people have been affected by the flooding, displacement and the destruction of infrastructure in Sagar's wake. It estimates that between 20,000 to 30,000 people have been impacted in Djibouti alone.

The region has been affected by years of drought, which means rainwater does not absorb easily into the sun-baked earth, increasing the risk of flash floods.




BBC

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