On Friday, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said it requires 523 million U.S. dollars for its humanitarian response in East Africa.
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WFP said the money will be used for relief, nutrition support for vulnerable local people and service provision in Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda to cover the needs from May to October, including for flood response.
It said people whose lives and livelihoods have been severely affected by the devastating flooding sweeping across the region requires immediate assistance to meet basic needs.
"Food security and nutrition needs will continue to be elevated as families and communities rebuild their livelihoods," WFP said in its Floods Update released in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
According to the UN agency, about 774,278 people have been affected by heavy rains and flash floods in the region since March. More than 350,155 people have been displaced across the five countries.
WFP said it is responding across the region, meeting humanitarian needs stemming from the heavy rains and flooding by providing food and nutrition assistance to over 207,794 flood-affected people.
"The scale of the crisis surpasses the current response capacity, underscoring the urgent need for additional support for WFP to effectively reach the flood-affected people with life-saving food and nutrition assistance," WFP said.
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC) has predicted wetter than usual conditions over most parts of the northern sectors of the East African region, including much of Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, and western and coastal Kenya. This forecast continues to pose a risk of flooding in hotspot areas and beyond.
This severe climate-induced shock comes against a backdrop of heightened vulnerability following the prolonged 2020 to 2023 drought and the floods during the June to December 2023 season.
WFP said the heavy rains and flash floods in Kenya have left 281,835 people displaced and nearly 380,573 people affected, according to the government statistics.
In Burundi, 179,200 people have been affected by the floods and require humanitarian assistance, with some 31,200 people displaced.
According to WFP, Somalia has been significantly impacted by the Gu (April to June) rains, which have intensified, leading to flash floods starting from April 19.
The UN has projected that the heavy rains and floods could potentially affect up to 770,000 people across 22 districts in Somalia.
WFP said some 39,185 people in Uganda have been affected and in Ethiopia, contingency plans suggest that in a worst-case scenario two million people across 165 districts could become affected.