Floods

Somalia experiences severe flooding in the riverine areas of the Juba and Shabelle. Increased severity and frequency of these floods have in turn led to increased economic damage and human casualties whenever these floods occur. To mitigate the effects of floods and contribute to long term solutions SWALIM carried out a study presenting technical options for the development of flood forecasting and early warning systems in Somalia. The study was the outcome of an assessment carried out by SWALIM and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on the Juba and Shabelle rivers for river flow forecasting and an assessment of Garowe and Hargeisa towns for flash flood alert systems. When implemented, the flood forecasting and early warning systems will go a long way in saving lives and protecting property whenever floods occur

Ongoing activities being carried out regarding floods in Somalia include:

• Production of a Flood Bulletin, in collaboration with USGS and FEWS Net during the Gu and Deyr seasons;
• Establishing a Flood Information Centre in Somalia;
• Building a flood information dissemination network in Somalia;
• Further development and improvement of existing flood prediction methodologies.

Note: To download any of the files below, right click on the link and select "Save Target As ..."

FLOOD WATCH

SWALIM also periodically releases 3-day accumulated rainfall forecasts for Somalia during the Gu and Deyr seasons.The latest rainfall forecasts are available for download via the table below:

STORM WATCH

For past bulletins, send an email to swalim@fao.org.

SWALIM Risk and Historical Flood Maps Available

• Inundation Risk & Historical Floods - Shabelle Basin (915KB)
• Inundation Risk & Historical Floods - Juba Basin (1.27MB)

UNOSAT Radar Flood Maps for selected areas in November 2006 (NEW)

• Satellite Identification of Flooded Areas in the Middle & Lower Juba,Somalia (212KB)
• Satellite Identification of Flooded Areas in the Lower Shabelle,Somalia (215KB)

Also Available the Somalia Deyr 2006 Floods Inter-Agency Technical Analysis Presentation (1.55MB)

For more information, contact us at So-hydro@fao.org