UNICEF is working with Kenya’s Red Cross Society and local authorities to chlorinate wells contaminated with flood water in the El Wak area of Mandera district, close to the border with Somalia, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

About 4,600 Kenyans living in the northeast and along the Indian Ocean coast have been displaced from their homes and forced to live with host families or in schools, OCHA reported today.

Fears are mounting that the wider Horn of Africa region could experience devastating floods in the next few months as the El Niño weather phenomenon takes effect, with heavy rains expected to peak this month across the region.

OCHA said as many as 750,000 people may eventually be affected by floods and landslides from the current rainy season.

UN aid agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Kenyan authorities have developed contingency plans that include the pre-positioning of relief items such as food, mosquito nets and water treatment chemicals in flood-prone areas.

Last month UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes warned that Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda are likely to be hit hardest by El Niño, with Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia also at risk.

Much of the region, including large swathes of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, has been stricken by drought recently.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

Stricken by drought, the Horn of Africa readies for expected flooding – UN