Record El Niño threatens floods and hunger across East Africa and Asia

Humanitarian organizations have warned that a rapidly strengthening El Niño could bring severe flooding and food shortages to vulnerable countries in East Africa and Asia.

• The US Climate Prediction Center said on July 9 that El Niño is strengthening rapidly, with an 81 percent chance of becoming one of the most powerful events since 1950.
• The International Rescue Committee identified Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as the countries most at risk.
• In Somalia, heavy rains have repeatedly flooded parts of Mogadishu this year, and FEWS NET assessed a credible risk of famine in southern regions if flooding matches 1997 or 2023.
• In Bangladesh, at least 15 Rohingya refugees have been killed and more than 10,000 displaced by landslides and flooding in Cox's Bazar since early July.