A Somalian internally displaced child looks at a flooded section of a camp in Mogadishu on 4 August 2012, following heavy rain and flash floods. Photo: Abdurashid Abdulle / AFP

By Abdiqani Hassan
11 November 2013 BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) – At least 100 people were killed when a tropical cyclone hit Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region at the weekend, the government said on Monday, declaring a state of emergency and appealing for international aid. The government said hundreds of people were missing after the storm made landfall on Saturday. “Houses and livestock were swept into the ocean by the floods,” President Abdirahman Mohamud Farole told reporters in the capital Garowe. “We urge United Nations aid agencies to assist the victims. As Puntland, we have established a committee to investigate the loss and damage. Electricity, communication and fishing boats were all destroyed.” The government said preliminary information showed more than 100,000 livestock were lost and fishing boats swept away, endangering the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. The storm was forecast to move inland and continue until Wednesday. The storm hit the Eyl, Beyla, Dangorayo and Hafun districts along the eastern coast and across to Alula at the tip of the Horn of Africa. High winds and heavy rains caused flash floods and cut off roads to the coastal areas. “I have buried 10 members of my family, the icy storm and rain killed more than hundred people here,” elder Hussein Abdullahi, 57, told Reuters from Eyl. “I have never witnessed such fatal cold. Some people were blown away and others died after their houses collapsed on them. Some people, and the animals they were looking after, are still missing,” he said. [more]

Storm kills at least 100 in Somalia’s Puntland

By Jeff Masters
11 November 2013 Tropical Storm Three in the Arabian Sea made landfall in Somalia, Africa on Sunday, bringing sustained winds of 45 mph to the coast and heavy rains inland. The rains triggered flash floods that killed about 100 people, said President Abdirahman Mohamud Farole. According to the International Disaster Database, EM-DAT, this is the deadliest tropical cyclone in Somalia’s history, tied with Tropical Cyclone ARB04 of 1994. According to the International Best Track Archive of storm tracks, only four other tropical storms have hit Somalia since accurate satellite measurements began in 1966: Tropical Cyclone Murjan of 2012, Tropical Cyclone ARB04 of 1994, Tropical Cyclone 12A of 1994, and Tropical Cyclone 4B of 1984.