More than 2 Million Vulnerable to Floods this Rainy Season: Commission

Addis Ababa, June 19/2020( ENA) More than two million people across the country will be affected by floods this rainy season, according to Disaster Risk Management Commission.

Disaster Risk Management Commission Early Warning and Response Director, Almaz Demisse told ENA that “around 2,066,683 people are at risk. Of those 434,154 are expected to be displaced during the season.”

Though some regions will not get enough rainfall, flooding will occur in all regions and the two city administrations at different levels, she added.

“We are preparing a humanitarian response plan and will send it to the pertinent sectoral governmental and non-governmental offices to allocate the budget required to overcome the challenge.”

The director urged stakeholders to prepare their own plan that could respond to the nature of the problems by adhering to flooding preventive measures.

National Meteorological Agency forecasted that above normal rainfall will be registered in north-western, western and south-western parts of the country during this rainy season.

Agency Early Warning Director, Chali Debele said unprecedented floodings could occur following above normal range rainfall during the season.

She stressed the need for collaboration to face the challenges as the pandemic of COVID-19 and the desert locust situation would worsen the problem.

Chali pointed out that drought will not be a risk as many parts of the rain receiving areas are expected to get enough amount of rain.