 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (May 2020) |
| Date | March–May 2020 |
|---|---|
| Location | Rwanda Kenya |
| Deaths | 453 in total
|
The 2020 East Africa floods were a natural disaster in Rwanda, Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti and Tanzania, affecting at least 700,000 people. They began when excessive rains began falling in March, leading to massive flooding and landslides. They caused more than 430 deaths, notably in Kenya and Rwanda. In the fall another round of floods hit the African Sahel.[1][2]
Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster and occur when an overflow of water submerges land that is usually dry. Floods are often caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or a storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami in coastal areas. Disastrous floods have caused millions of fatalities in the twentieth century, tens of billions of dollars of direct economic loss each year, and significant disruption to global trade.[3]
- ^ Kassegn, Andualem; Endris, Ebrahim (2021). "Review on socio-economic impacts of 'Triple Threats' of COVID-19, desert locusts, and floods in East Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia". Cogent Social Sciences. 7. doi:10.1080/23311886.2021.1885122. S2CID 233923728.
- ^ Wainwright, Caroline M.; Finney, Declan L.; Kilavi, Mary; Black, Emily; Marsham, John H. (2021). "Extreme rainfall in East Africa, October 2019–January 2020 and context under future climate change". Weather. 76 (1): 26–31. Bibcode:2021Wthr...76...26W. doi:10.1002/wea.3824. S2CID 225359280.
- ^ Merz, Bruno; Blöschl, Günter; Vorogushyn, Sergiy; Dottori, Francesco; Aerts, Jeroen C. J. H.; Bates, Paul; Bertola, Miriam; Kemter, Matthias; Kreibich, Heidi; Lall, Upmanu; MacDonald, Elena (2021). "Causes, impacts and patterns of disastrous river floods". Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. 2 (9): 592–609. doi:10.1038/s43017-021-00195-3. S2CID 236972361.