Why You Need to Care About Africa's Rainfall and Flooding Issues
Several damaging climate effects in Africa are associated with water in the form of uncertain rainfall, floods, and stress on Africa river systems.
Why You Need to Care About Africa's Rainfall and Flooding Issues
Over the next decade in Africa droughts, heatwaves and floods and heavy rainfall will become more pronounced. Part of Africa’s vulnerability is because over 90 percent of agriculture in Africa is dependent on rainfall for day to day food.
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| Collecting groundwater in Africa |
Climate change is very likely to have an overall negative effect on yields of major cereals crops across Africa and people are starving. Significant crop effects are already being felt. Across the region, yields of maize are predicted to decline sharply by 2050, with average predicted losses on this basic food staple ranging from 5 percent for the region overall to 11 percent in southern Africa.
In areas with higher levels of warming, yields may decrease by 15–20 percent across all crops and regions and hunger is acutely felt. Southern Africa faces the risk of more severe and longer droughts and periods of extremely low and extremely high rainfall could become more common.
World climate models are consistent in predicting that rains will be heavier, particularly in the wetter areas of tropical Africa, increasing flood hazards. Eastern Africa is projected to become more humid and wetter. As exposure to flood risk goes up, people die, property is lost and these socio-economic losses will increase, especially in smaller villages that are prone to flash floods and high populations.
Unprecedented heat extremes are projected over more areas of land in Eastern Africa resulting in significant changes in vegetation and putting some plant species at risk of extinction. Heat and drought would also result in severe losses of livestock.
Just like the majority
of the world, most Africans rely on groundwater for household needs,
particularly in rural areas. Rainfall changes could greatly limit water
availability in some African regions. One model for southern and west Africa
predicts decreases in groundwater recharge rates of 50–70 percent.
The combination of changes in the flow of streams and rising temperatures are also expected to have broadly negative impacts on freshwater ecosystems and water quality. In other regions, such as the Horn of Africa, greater rainfall could increase groundwater levels.
The combination of changes in the flow of streams and rising temperatures are also expected to have broadly negative impacts on freshwater ecosystems and water quality. In other regions, such as the Horn of Africa, greater rainfall could increase groundwater levels.
Kenya received
unusually heavy rains that brought deadly floods to the country in November 2006.
The floods seen on the Tana River were caused by a combination of torrential
rain and a release of water from Kenya’s overwhelmed hydroelectric dams,
reported the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
People in hundreds
of communities along the Tana River were displaced when the river burst its
banks. The Tana River was just one of many rivers to burst their banks in East
Africa during the short rainy season of 2006. The short rains, which typically
run from late October through early December, fell on the drought-hardened ground
in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, and gathered into raging floods where nearly 2
million people had been affected by the flooding.
These unusual floods
damaged homes, businesses, public buildings, and agricultural fields, but they
cut off roads and contaminated drinking water. The lack of clean water and
access to health care, food, and other supplies may lead to a health crisis.
Diseases such as cholera, malaria, diarrhea, and measles have already started to
spread among displaced people living in unsanitary conditions with limited
access to clean water.
The Category 2
storm, Cyclone Idai made landfall shortly after midnight on March 15, 2019, in
Beira, a port city on the coast of Mozambique, with 175 kph (109 mph) winds
that brought huge rains and submerged villages as it moved inland towards
Zimbabwe and Malawi.
After hitting
Mozambique, Cyclone Idai tore into Zimbabwe and Malawi killing many people as
they slept. The United Nations has confirmed that 259 lives have been lost in
Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi. But the United Nations said officials will only be
able to determine the final casualty figure once the floodwaters have receded.
Mozambique's
Minister of Land and Environment, Celso Correia, said on Sunday that 446 people
have now been reported dead in Mozambique. More than half a million have been
affected in the country and Beira took the full brunt of Cyclone Idai, with aid
agencies reporting that 90% of the city had been destroyed by the storm.
Cholera cases have
already been reported in Beira, and there is an increasing number of malaria
infections among those trapped by the flooding, according to the International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The government is
setting up cholera treatment centers in affected areas.
The high
commissioner for Mozambique in the UK, Filipe Chidumo, last week called Cyclone
Idai "a big tragedy of biblical proportions." Chidumo added the
restoration of electricity, water and sanitation facilities would be needed to
prevent the spread of waterborne diseases. Some 1.7 million people are said to be
affected across southern Africa, with no electricity or running water in areas
where homes have been swept away and roads destroyed by the floods.
Note:
The only difference
between a hurricane, a cyclone, and a typhoon is the location where the storm
occurs. Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon,
different names for these storms in different places.
Did you know?
In Africa, over 400
million people are deprived of safe drinking water. In order to get water,
people who can afford the option buy water from private water tanker operators
for around $50 each month.
