Among the worst hit towns is the densely populated Beledweyne, where the Shabelle River has burst its banks, destroyed many homes and caused thousands to flee to higher ground near the border with Ethiopia.

Somalia’s federal government declared a state of emergency in October after extreme weather exacerbated by El Niño destroyed homes, roads and bridges.

An El Niño is a natural, temporary and occasional warming of part of the Pacific that shifts weather patterns across the globe, often by moving the airborne paths for storms.

Many parts of Somalia, as well as in neighboring Horn of Africa nations Kenya and Ethiopia, are still receiving torrential rainfall in what aid agencies have described as a rare flooding phenomenon.

The U.N.-backed Somali Water and Land Information Management project has warned of “a flood event of a magnitude statistically likely only once in 100 years,” the U.N. food agency said in a recent statement.

Speaking on Wednesday in the Dollow district of Gedo region, where many families have been displaced by flooding, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre urged the international community to help.

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