Downpours destroy Dadaab refugees’ homes and belongings

(ERGO) – Torrential rain and strong winds have destroyed shelters and swept away household possessions in Dadaab, northeastern Kenya, leaving many Somali refugee families without food and shelter.

Some have sought shelter with relatives, while others have nowhere to turn for food or protection from the rain.

Faisa Mohamed Hassan said the storms that began on 29 October brought down her shelter in Macalin Farah area on the outskirts of Hagadera camp, while floodwater swept away everything inside.

She fled with her seven children, the oldest aged 10, to her mother’s family.

“The water took all our food and the mattresses we slept on. I am afraid the floods will carry away my children. The water channel is close to us, and they nearly got swept away the previous night,” she said.

Faisa, whose husband died of illness three years ago, lived in a shelter made of wood collected from the bush and plastic sheets bought with money she earned from washing clothes. It had a main room, a veranda covered with two plastic sheets where the children slept, and a kitchen.

Their last 116 kg food ration received from the World Food Programme (WFP) in early September was also swept away.

Her relatives, who are also poor refugees affected by the rain, cannot offer much help. Faisa cannot afford to rebuild her shelter while providing for her children. Four of them have stopped attending school following their displacement. She used to pay 2,000 Kenyan shillings a month for their education.

She arrived in the refugee camps in 2008, aged 12, after fleeing insecurity in Mogadishu, and married in Dadaab.

The Hagadera camp chairman said about 100 families had lost their shelters, while hundreds of others had suffered damage but managed to salvage belongings. Many of the worst-affected households were recent arrivals and young couples who had settled in undesignated areas, including drainage channels, making them vulnerable to flooding.

Batulo Mohamed Abdi’s family of nine were not displaced, but floodwater soaked all their belongings. One of their two shelters collapsed completely and part of the other fell in, leaving them with inadequate shelter and food.

“All our clothes and mattresses got wet. Nothing has dried because the rain is still falling. The food we are eating now was given to us by neighbours,” she said.

Her family’s last WFP ration of 25kg of lentils, 90kg of sorghum and 18 litres of cooking oil ran out on 17 October.

Batulo had patched up holes in their shelter using discarded plastic sheets, but these had worn out. She is now using a plastic sheet collected from a rubbish dump tied to wooden poles to protect her children while sleeping.

The family has no toilet. Batulo said they had not received a latrine since arriving in the camp in 2023. Rainwater has mixed with human waste around their shelter, raising fears of disease.

“My seven-year-old child has had diarrhoea for two days. I disposed of the child’s waste outside, but I have no money to buy medicine,” she said.

Batulo has been unable to work for two months because of a kidney problem. She used to earn 3,500 Kenyan shillings a month washing clothes. Medication has not improved her conditions and she was advised to seek further tests in a major town, but has no money.

Her husband, who collects and sells firewood, has been without work for a month after nearby sources of wood ran out. The family fled drought and insecurity in Buale, southern Somalia’s Middle Juba region, in 2023. They had a four-hectare farm that had become unproductive because of poor rainfall.

Batulo said they had nowhere else to go and feared further rain as they lacked adequate clothing and shelter.

Recently arrived refugees have cards allowing them to access limited food aid but continue to face difficulties with accessing water, healthcare, shelter and education.

Hagadera camp chairman Khalif Dhubow Jelle said refugees had received no shelter support for about 10 years, leaving many in weak structures vulnerable to collapse.

“Some people built shelters inside drainage channels because they had nowhere else to settle. The water entered their homes and forced them to flee. There is a serious shortage of shelter in the camps, and we fear the situation will worsen if more rain comes,” he said.

The chairman said the destruction had affected refugees already struggling with reductions in humanitarian assistance, including cuts to food aid and reduced allocations for some of the most vulnerable households.

The destruction comes as the October–December short rainy season is forecast to bring above-average rainfall to parts of East Africa. The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), in its August 2026 seasonal outlook, gave northeastern Kenya a 90 per cent likelihood of enhanced rainfall, raising concerns that further flooding could worsen conditions for refugees living in poorly constructed shelters and flood-prone areas.