Extreme weather events under the spotlight as Africa Climate Summit kicks off

A man carries his bicycle over a flooded area in Muloza on the border with Mozambique after the tropical Cyclone Freddy, around 100 km outside Blantyre, Malawi, 18 March 2023. Reuters/Esa Alexander

Horn of Africa drought

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia endured five consecutive failed rainy seasons from 2020 to 2022 in the Horn of Africa's worst drought in decades.

The drought pushed parts of Somalia to the brink of famine and left more than 23 million people across the region facing severe hunger, according to the World Food Programme.

When the long-awaited rains finally arrived in March in Somalia, they were unusually intense, causing flash flooding that inundated homes and farmland, washed away livestock, and closed schools and health facilities.

Cyclone Freddy

One of the deadliest storms to hit Africa in the last two decades, Cyclone Freddy ripped through Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar in late February and then circled back in March.

Raging for more than a month, Freddy may have been the longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded. Destruction and flooding caused by the cyclone killed over 1,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

West African floods

West and Central Africa experienced one of the worst flooding disasters on record in 2022. More than 1,500 people were killed and 3.2 million displaced across 20 countries, the United Nations said.

The heavy rains and floods also destroyed crops across 1.6 million hectares (3.95 million acres) of farmland. Nigeria, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo were among the countries hardest hit.