At least 400 people have succumbed due to heavy rains in Kenya and Tanzania. The uncertainty on the cause of the rainfall has raised tension around the East African nations, with people now worrying when the floods will stop.
Respective Meteorological departments have linked the phenomena to rapid climate change globally. True to that, countries like the U.S., United Arab Emirates, and Russia have reported deadly storms and heavy rainfall in the last month.
Kenya, for instance, is experiencing the normal long rains’ but has been above average due to the changing climate system and the influence of factors like the Indian Ocean Dipole.
The Indian Ocean Dipole is a swinging of sea surface temperatures that makes the western Indian Ocean warmer than average then colder than average than those of the eastern Indian Ocean. It has positive, neutral, and negative phases.
Therefore, the warmer temperatures in the Indian Ocean have greatly led to increased evaporation and the resulting heavy rainfall.
Met departments have dismissed El Nino weather as a leading cause for the ongoing floods in Kenya and Tanzania. The climatic condition is mostly associated with Pacific weather occurrences, which are quite rare during the ‘’long rain’ season.
According to the Kenya Meteorological Department, we can expect the heavy rains to continue into June. This is a call for action for those in compromised areas to evacuate, and for the governments to intensify respective protective measures.
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