The 1961 Shabelle and Juba floods were unprecedented in Somali history

Evidence

The reconnaissance flight in the flooded areas, lower Shabelle and Juba, took six hours and by what we could see from high, the situation is really painful. I have seen so much water, beginning from Afgoi, which has no precedent in the history of Somalia. We followed the course of the rivers and as the river [Shabelle] disappears and reappears all the areas became lakes and swamps. It seems the situation was worse in the Shabelle area. From Kismayo to Merka the population took refuge on the shores of the sea. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 621

I have seen so much water, beginning from Afgoi, which has no precedent in the history of Somalia. We followed the course of the rivers and as the river [Shabelle] disappears and reappears all the areas became lakes and swamps. It seems the situation was worse in the Shabelle area. From Kismayo to Merka the population took refuge on the shores of the sea. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 621

Categorization

• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 621