Floods could hit 750,000 homes

According to him, the secretariat was working closely with the military, the Kenya Red Cross Society and other relief agencies.

“We don’t want to leave anything to chance.”

According to the UN report, meteorologists at the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum had warned that intense rainfall could trigger massive flooding in several countries.

“Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are especially flood-prone although eastern Uganda, Djibouti, Tanzania and Eritrea may also see exceptionally heavy rains and possible flooding,” the report said.

Above normal rains would bring a sharp increase in child diseases, particularly respiratory infections and diarrhoea.

But the report states that the rains will not only bring about doom and gloom but would also have some positive attributes.

Water reservoirs, pans and dams that had dried up over the last few months will fill up again and farmers could have their first productive season in several years.

For pastoralists, the possibility of replenished water sources and pasture regeneration will help livestock production and halt animal deaths that have recently risen sharply in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.