Floods in Mogadishu, Somalia, May 2021.
© Somali Red CrescentFloods in Mogadishu, Somalia, May 2021.
The Somali Red Crescent Society (Somali RC) reports that at least 9 children have died after heavy rainfall caused the collapse of a house in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia.

Heavy rainfall struck on 07 May 2021, causing severe flash flooding in the city, causing buildings to collapse in Wadajir District.

Somali Red Crescent Society Director of Organizational Development and Communication, Abdulkadir Afi, said via Social Media, "Sadly 9 children rushed to hospital following the collapse of a house in Mogadishu have succumbed to their injuries. Rescue efforts still ongoing and our Somali RC ambulances continue to attend to the wounded. Heavy rains have caused flash floods and structural damage in the area."

Local media reported further fatalities after heavy rains damaged makeshift shelters for Internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Garasbaley area on the outskirts of the city on 08 May 2021.


Meanwhile hundreds of people have been displaced and crops destroyed after flooding from the a Shabelle river near Jowhar. According to reports, Jowhar is all but isolated after the Mogadishu-Jowhar was cut.

Meanwhile the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned that at least 150,000 people are at risk from imminent floods. FAO said observed levels of the Shabelle River have continued to rise alarmingly in the past two weeks after "unprecedented excessive rains in the upper parts of the Ethiopian highlands" which have been particularly intense over the last few days.