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Mahesh

17/05/24 06:08 AM IST

What are the reasons and concerns related to floods in Kenya?

In News
  • India recently sent fresh consignments of relief materials, including medicines and essential supplies, to the flood-affected people of Kenya.
Reasons for Floods
  • Kenya usually has two rainfall seasons – the long rain season that lasts from March to May, and the short rain season from October to December.
  • The 2023 short rain season also caused floods in the country.
  • Now, Kenya has been facing heavy rainfall since March, and although flooding in Nairobi and other parts of the country is not unusual, the deluge has been attributed to the El Niño weather pattern.
  • El Niño typically causes sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean to rise and become warmer than usual.
  • During El Niño, surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific rise, and trade winds — east-west winds that blow near the Equator — weaken.
  • Normally, easterly trade winds blow from the Americas towards Asia. Due to El Niño, they falter and change direction to turn into westerlies, bringing warm water from the western Pacific towards the Americas.
  • In Kenya and East Africa, El Niño often causes above-average rainfall.
  • According to UNOCHA, the impact of El Niño-induced heavy rains and flooding during the long rainy season (March-May) has been devastating across in Kenya as well other countries in East Africa, like Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
  • In March, the 2023-24 El Niño peaked as one of the five strongest on record and continued to impact global climate in the following months despite a weakening trend.
  • This is not the first time Kenya has been devastated by excessive rains caused by the El Niño weather pattern.
  • Between May 1997 and February 1998, the phenomenon caused extraordinarily heavy rainfall in the country, leading to widespread landslides and floods.
  • Another reason contributing to the excessive rainfall in Kenya this year is the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).
  • The IOD is characterised by a difference in temperature between the western and eastern parts of the Indian Ocean — a positive value represents above normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean, and below normal temperatures in the western equatorial Indian Ocean.
  • According to the Australian government’s Bureau of Meteorology, the IOD for the week ending April 28 is +0.68 degrees C, which is above the positive IOD threshold (+0.40 degrees C).
  • The fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in 2007, had identified the 1997-98 IOD as the strongest ever [until the time], and associated it with “catastrophic flooding” in East Africa.
Concerns
  • According to the government of Kenya, floods are estimated to cost 5.5% of the country’s GDP every seven years, while the larger economic cost of climate change in Kenya is 2 –2.4% of the GDP each year.
  • Extreme weather events like flooding are particularly concerning for marginalised and at-risk populations, including older people, people with disabilities, people in poverty, and rural populations.
  • The floods in Kenya have already destroyed 65 roads, and affected 106 schools, 907 businesses, 42 health facilities and more, the Kenya Red Cross reported in its update on May 11.
  • The flood has also increased the risk of water-borne diseases like cholera in the country.
  • Thousands of people have been killed, injured, or displaced, adding pressure on the country’s resources.
  • Floods have also destroyed cropland — at least 45,097 acreages of crops have been affected, threatening food security.
  • President Ruto has announced alternative settlement to 40,000 displaced households, resources to buy food and bedding for those affected by floods, and one billion Kenyan shillings to rebuild schools in the country.
Source- The Hindu

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