Over the years, Somalia has seen many types of disasters, both man-made and natural. Droughts and floods are the two major natural cyclic disasters that are frequently affected the country. Tropical cyclones are also common in coastal areas of Puntland and Somaliland in the northern parts of the country. In May 2018, Somalia has experienced one of the worst floods the country has ever experienced. The hardest hit areas include Hirshabele, Jubaland and South West States. These states have experienced very heavy Gu rains and subsequent damaging floods. The floods led to fatalities, massive displacements and damage to infrastructure and cropland, all worsening an already fragile humanitarian situation. At the same time, Shabelle River basin is already showing early signs of increasing exposure and flood vulnerability patterns in the most populated areas of the middle and lower basin.

Jowhar District is particularly prone to recurrent flooding during rainy season (Gu and Deyr). Heavy Gu rains seen the last week of April and first week of May have triggered floods in some areas in Middle Shabelle region and affected significant number of the population with Jowhar city toping the hardest hit areas displacing more than 66,000 people from 27 villages, destroying over 40,000 hectares of farmland, disrupting learning in 12 schools and damaging 82 per cent of WASH infrastructures. Even though, the current water levels of Shabelle River at Jowhar is below average, it is expected to rise again as the Deyr season will commence in the next couple of days. Unless appropriate actions and mitigation are taken quickly, the consequences can again turn into disastrous for the country. Like most cities along Shabelle River basin, Jowhar City went through an extended period of rapid and unplanned urbanization: in the past 25 years, Jowhar City’s population more than doubled, and the city expanded to more than three times its size of 1990.

A successful ‘flood mitigation and management’ requires proper understanding of the problem, long-term planning, availability of resources for taking immediate action during flood events and coordination between different public and private agencies. To promote capability of flood mitigation and management, MoEWR planned for conducting comprehensive assessment for flood mitigation in Jowhar Riverine areas with plan to scale it up in other areas.

The assessment will help to greatly improve the understanding of flood mechanisms and flood risk and seeks to provide a tool so that the may assess the costs and benefits of a range of intervention measures and improvement options at a later stage.

The assessment will focus on assessing (i) the type, source, and probability of floods based on information available; (ii) the standards of protection provided by existing flood management infrastructure; (iii) the exposure of assets; (iv) the current arrangements and funding for operation and maintenance of existing flood management infrastructure; (v) the government’s capacity and experience in designing, building and maintaining the physical and institutional flood management infrastructure (i.e. what has been built, who is involved, how well the coordination and information sharing mechanisms work); and (vi) the possible technical criteria that can be used to support risk sensitive zoning and local plans. The collected information and products will also support and inform the basin development plan. Once completed, the assessment will serve as the basis for information as well as identifying mitigation measures under different flood risk scenarios.

Given the current low level of the Shabelle river, the period is the best time of the year where such assessment to be conducted including surveying river cross sections, mapping flood prone areas with special focus on water source points, schools, sanitation systems, farmlands, roads and to prioritize the rehabilitation interventions during the flood response phase and identifying weak points of the river banks as well. As indicated above there is an urgent need for flood mitigation activities to lessen a high likely 2021 Deyr floods. As a result, a set of activities that will facilitate the reduction flood effects on the populations living the flood prone areas is priority for the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of Somalia.

The objective of this consultancy assignment focuses on the carrying out of a comprehensive assessment for flood mitigation in Jowhar riverine areas along Shabelle Basin.

It is important to note that this work will produce a general overview assessment of flood risk; information that could help inform future planning; analysis of risk mitigation options and improve the resilience of the communities from recurrent floods and identifying areas unsuitable for urban expansion. Further detailed site-specific analysis will be conducted when determining specific vulnerability, risk and mitigation actions, as well as cost estimate as and when they decide to pursue further action.

The specific objective of the consultancy is to:

· To reduce the adverse impact of floods and the likelihood in Jowhar riverine areas

· Conduct comprehensive detailed hydrological investigations using in-situ measurements coupled with remote sensing and GIS analysis and propose possible solutions or recommendations for flood mitigations activities.

To propose an integrated flood management plan for Jowhar riverine areas that can be used for another areas in Somalia.