Floods have hit several countries in the Horn of Africa in recent days, including Kenya. In the east of the country, several days after seeing her house submerged, Fatuma Hassan Gumo returned to the area to retrieve what could still be salvaged from the muddy waters: just a few kitchen utensils.

A flash flood of the Tana River in Garissa County, which borders Somalia, left the 42-year-old fruit seller and her <> family members with no choice but to abandon their home of dried mud and corrugated iron to seek refuge on a stretch of land untouched by the floodwaters.

Fatuma and her family are among thousands of people left homeless after the recent torrential rains hit the East African country, killing more than 70 people.

The Horn of Africa had not yet recovered from a severe drought that affected millions of people when torrential rains linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon hit.

"My life is very hard right now"

"The water has destroyed everything," Fatuma said, distraught. "My life is very hard right now."

In an emergency displacement camp in central Garissa, Mwana Juma Hassan stands next to his white tent, discouraged. "Eating here has become a luxury. We don't know when we'll have our next meal," she laments.

For the fourth time in less than a decade, the floods have forced the 37-year-old widow from her home. And the latest rains have ravaged his watermelon field, his only source of income. With her teenage daughter, Mwana plans to return home as soon as the water recedes from her plot, as she fears she will not be able to find food in the camp.

Some 500 people on the ground spent four nights trying to sleep in the relentless rain and soggy clothes before the Kenya Red Cross Society provided tents, said Amina Duke Gabuku, a 60-year-old weaver.

Some fear the outbreak of disease in the camp, given the precarious sanitary conditions. But Amina has other concerns on her mind. "How can one kilo of rice feed seven children?" she asks of food distributions.

The situation could get 'out of control'

The floods hit Garissa County at a time when its nearly 800,000 residents were already heavily dependent on humanitarian aid for food. Fourteen camps were set up in two weeks, housing more than 7,000 people.

According to Mohamed Dubow, director of emergency response for the county, the situation could spiral out of control if the rains continue in the next two to three days.

In total, the floods are expected to affect 200,000 people, with the Tana River already three metres above normal, he said. Almost the entire county is "submerged, inaccessible or affected," he said.

The floods have damaged the main road linking Garissa to the more northern counties of Wajir and Mandera, and cut off the main road between Nairobi and Garissa, where hundreds of trucks are stranded.

"The damage to the road has caused a lot of problems: food has become scarce and prices have gone up," community leader Dagane Haji told AFP.

"It's a hunger crisis"

In the camp, Abubakar Maliyu Jillo, a 49-year-old farmer, said he feared a long-term crisis that would prevent him from providing for his four wives and <> children.

"It's a hunger crisis," he said, explaining that he lost a 300,000 shillings (€1,790) investment in his farm in recent bad weather.

Humanitarian agencies and conservationists have been calling for years to give more to help developing countries cope with the dramatic consequences of climate change, to which they contribute the least on a global scale.

"This vicious cycle makes it almost impossible for these communities to sustain the economic progress they have made," said Kunow Sheikh Abdi, Kenya director of Mercy Corps.

The head of Garissa County, Mohammed Dubow, added: "We are facing two perils, day and night. Either it's drought or it's floods."

With AFP

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