This is second part of our drought/flood series. In part 1 we explained the science behind rain in Somalia and how they lead to droughts and floods – you can read it here. In this part we present possible actionable solutions to these issues, using examples from other countries.
Flooding in Galkacyo – when disaster struck
In Galkacyo, the flooding of the rainy season ‘autumn 2023’ led to many people fleeing the city and millions of dollars in damages to houses, roads, and stores. Galkacyo is not known for good roads, but the few roads in the city were partially destroyed due to the floods. The houses were overflown with flood water and took on great damages, and many properties are to this day closed since it costs a lot to repair. Fortunately, there hasn’t been reports of any deaths but some people developed rashes. Everyone in the flooded parts of the city fled to e.g. live with relatives. Education was stopped for 1 month, and the whole city was under a lot of pressure. Flood preparedness could have saved the city a lot of money in repairs.
If we take a look at the monthly rainfall in Galkacyo in the graph below, you will see that October 2023 was the month with the highest rainfall in 10 years. During that rainy season, the city architecture proved to be incapable of dealing with heavy rainfall and the water essentially got trapped in many places of the city – there were no proper runoff systems. The heavy rainfall also came as a surprise to many despite knowing it was El Niño season at that time.
(Data source: CHIRPS rainfall data, figure created in R studio and Canva)
The general elevation of Somalia decreases the more you move towards the oceans. Therefore water flows from the Ethiopian highlands and end in the far East or North. Galkacyo is a city in central Somalia, and here this means that the elevation is highest in the North-western part of the city and decreases towards the South-East (See illustration). When heavy rainfall occurs in the city, most damage is seen in areas with lower elevation (South-East) while the North-west is generally unaffected.
Currently Galkacyo is rebuilding its road – the central part of the city was being rebuild during August 2024. Measures for flood preparedness have also begun to be included in the urban planning. But during every El Niño rainy season, some Somali city is under water – so what can we do?
Ancient adaptions to El Niño and La Niña in South America
Adaptations to droughts and floods is not a new concept. Ancient populations in South America developed practices to account for El Niño and La Niña conditions (droughts and floods) as part of the norm. This goes back to around 5800 years ago where different populations proactively constructed large flood management structures. Peru is one of the driest places on earth.
The Peruvian Chimú populations constructed massive canals to divert flood waters away from settlements and ensure a steady water supply when rainfall was scarce.
The Nazca civilization (200 BCE – 600 CE) developed a unique water management system called “puquios” to survive the extreme dry conditions that often follow El Niño events. These underground ‘aqueducts’ structures tapped into underground water sources and used spiral-shaped access points to bring water to the surface for irrigation. Hereby they could have stable crop production even during droughts.
Then there was the Andean farmers in South America who adapted by diversifying their crops. During drought they grew drought-resistant crops such as quinoa and amaranth, and during heavy rainwater periods they grew flood-resistant varieties of maize and tubers.
With climate change however, we are seeing extreme weather patterns, and even modern South American farmers are struggling. The recent floods in Spain where ca 200 mm rain fell in just one day killing over 200 is a great example of the changing weather patterns. Australia and Denmark are among some of the countries that have found great solutions to dealing with droughts and floods.
Australia – a success story
As Australia borders both the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean it is especially affected by ENSO and the IOD. And since it is the driest inhabited continent on earth, this can lead to severe natural disasters. During drought conditions, it faces bushfires and during opposite times it experiences heavy floods. Yet, people are not dying to the same extend there as in Somalia, how so?
1) Australia is really good at monitoring the weather! This is thanks to the Bureau of Meteorology. In Somalia, SWALIM is doing a phenomenal job, but since this is funded by the UN how can Somalia take over this job in the future?
2) Australia has amazing early warning systems, for incoming disasters such as floods, extreme heat, bushfires, cyclones, etc.
3) Australia has great water management systems! We’re talking advanced data collection, building of “Water markets” where people can buy/sell water based on the need, advanced agricultural irrigation techniques, desalination plants (which is especially good since it has access to sea-water all around), and water recycling methods.
4) Australia is already prepared for floods and bush fires. The population is well educated, and the government spends a large amount of money, knowing that prevention and preparedness will eventually save them huge amounts in damages.
5) Australia is committed to building a great Drought Relief Program. The “$5 Billion Future Drought Fund” is Australia’s plan to deal with future droughts. The government has committed to spending over $500M every year into this program over the next 8 years.
Copenhagen is dealing with floods by building “Sponge Cities”
In 2011 Copenhagen decided to build better urban planning systems as a result of a huge flooding event. The damages were around 1.6 billion Euros and it was a wakeup call and suddenly there was a need for a way to get water out of the city very fast (source: StateOfGreen). The city is transforming itself to become a “sponge city” capable of retaining large amounts of unexpected rainwater. How so?
1. By making the city greener
By simply planting more trees all around the city, excess rainwater can be stored in small ponds. This can be as simple as in roundabouts, green roofs, or entire parks capable of storing much of the rainwater so it doesn’t get into the rest of the city. And it is hidden in plain sight while also being effective for the climate. This solution is also referred to as making the city more “spongy” and it is one of the reasons many flood-prone cities around the world are rebuilding. It can remove smaller volumes of rainwater, but for larger volumes you need to go underground.
2. By building underground tunnels
By making huge tunes underground that collects rainwater from the streets and pump it out into the harbor, Copenhagen can deal with storms better today. The water is slowly released into the harbor, and if necessary it can be pumped out at speeds up to 20.000 liters per second.
3. By integrative smart solutions
Thinking about floodproofing while building public parks is also necessary. Copenhagen has rebuild some of the public places for gatherings with capabilities to sink down and close of the walls as “make shift ponds” that can store huge amounts of water when disaster strikes. These are in areas where e.g. the citizens have experienced flooding in their basements.
Initiatives in Somalia
We have covered various solutions to both the droughts and floods in Somalia extensively in our posts here on MoreSomalia. We will mention a few of these below:
A few solutions against the droughts and floods:
Investment in ground water: Our most popular article is about the deep groundwater projects in Somalia. Below the surface Somalia is sitting on enough underground water to cover the needs of the entire population. Tapping into this could transform Somalia like it did for many Arab nations and prevent drought-related catastrophes. As of now, a lot of research has recently been done and investment is underway.
Rainwater harvesting (see the article post here): We have also written extensively about rainwater harvesting techniques. Somalia has actually been practicing various forms of rainwater harvesting for centuries, such as berkads, natural ditches, flood diversion, and wells. With new technologies such as Geographic Information System (GIS) we can now analyze the entire Somali landscape and map out where to practice each type of rainwater harvesting technique.
Jowhar off-stream reservoir: In our floods article we described The Jowhar Offstream Storage Reservoir (JOSSR). It’s actually a really cool and promising project! Built in 1980 on the Shabelle River, it used to be able to store 200 million m³ of water to manage floods and provide irrigation during droughts. Its benefits were lost after the Somali government’s collapse, leading to infrastructure decay and recurrent flooding. Now efforts to rehabilitate Somalia’s water systems, including SWALIM’s support, have been ongoing for two decades. In 2018, Somalia and Turkey agreed to rebuild the JOSSR. Reviving the reservoir could address both flooding and drought challenges.
Dam building and river diversions: In the floods article we also described how dams can help store water. Ethiopia has invested heavily in dams including in rivers connected to the Somali Jubba and Shabelle river. Dams impound water, while weirs change river flow characteristics, recharge groundwater, and store water for later use.
Conclusion
Drought and flood relief systems are not ways to ‘make money’ money in Somalia – instead they actually cost a lot. However the damages they cause cost billions of USD to repair which will slow down development – as observed in many world cities. So these solutions should be seen as ways to avoid the loss of money rather than make money.
In addition people are dying during these natural disasters. Stopping the effects of El Niño/La Niña and IOD will lead to a more prosperous Somalia – but how do we do so? We learn from those who have the same issues and implemented smart solutions. Many cities are working on smart solutions for flood-proofing their cities through greenery and underground systems – in Somalia one of the smartest solutions is the current rebuilding of the “Jowhar off-stream storage”, but we need more solutions! Somalia has also practiced rainwater harvesting (we wrote about it here) for centuries, and developing these practices can be great ways to mitigate the effects of droughts.
With a growing educated Somali diaspora, many of whom have backgrounds in environmental studies and engineering, the potential for working on important solutions to recurring disasters is better than ever. We have really been good at funding the building of thousands of wells over the past decades, however it is now time to invest in longer term projects.
The boy (El Niño) and the girl (La Niña) have always controlled the weather around the world. But with climate change, the effects are getting more severe. For Somalia there are three questions we can ask ourselves for guidance:
- Are we measuring well enough? Data collection and understanding the problem is the first step to solving it as seen in Australia’s example from above. Setting up great monitoring systems and keeping them alive is the dedicated way of long term solutions.
- Which solutions can be applied to the problem? Here we can draw inspiration from other countries, but also make Somali-centric solutions as each country have their advantages.
- What should we invest in for long term solutions? Solving these issues will take decades – how much should we spend on it and who should pay? Can the Somali diaspora, the Somali states, and the public be involved, or do we get everything from NGOs? Which solutions are most cost-effective and able to solve multiple problems at the same time?
