Footage of impassible roads continue to come from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania among other countries in East Africa.

Speaking from New York Thursday (May 2nd), a spokesperson for the United Nations’ chief, Antonio Guterres, reiterated the UN’s readiness to provide additional support to national authorities.

Stéphane Dujarrik also extended Antonio Guterres’ condolences to those affected.

“The Secretary-General’s expressed his deep distress at the news of the hundreds of lives lost and many others affected by the heavy flooding in Burundi, in Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania, as well as other parts of East Africa,” Dujarrik told reporters.

“The United Nations and its partners are working closely with national authorities to address humanitarian requirements. The Secretary-General stresses that the United Nations stands ready to offer any additional assistance that may be needed during this difficult period. The Secretary-General is extremely concerned about the impacts of El Niño-triggered extreme weather, which risk further devastating communities and undermining livelihoods.”

The devastating rains in the region are a result of a mix of factors, including the countries’ seasonal weather patterns, human-caused climate change as well as natural weather phenomena such as El-Nino.

In Kenya’s case, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), a naturally occurring climate system has been cited by researchers.

The IOD 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.

The positive phase causes heavy rainfall in areas west of the Indian Ocean, such as Kenya, and droughts in Indonesia and Australia.