In brief
On 10 November 2026, the East African Community (EAC) adopted a regional emergency plan to address ongoing El Nino‑related flooding and heavy rains across its member states. The plan prioritises early warning systems, health preparedness, infrastructure resilience, agriculture and food security, as well as climate‑induced mobility and displacement, and identifies key risk areas such as the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya’s Tana River and coastal regions, Somalia, Karamoja‑Teso, Rwanda’s western highlands, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. The EAC Secretariat is to mobilise resources and prepare an implementation plan by 30 November, with a disaster‑information dashboard to be launched on 25 November.
The East African Community (EAC) announced Monday that it had adopted a regional emergency plan to coordinate responses to ongoing El Nino‑related flooding and heavy rains that are forecast to continue through February 2027. The declaration was issued by the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, in a statement dated 10 November 2026, and it follows a meeting of the EAC Joint Sectoral Council on Defence, Interstate Security and Foreign Policy Coordination.
First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda and East African Community Affairs Minister Rebecca Kadaga, who chairs the EAC Council of Ministers, underscored the need for a collective action, warning that no member state could manage the cross‑border impacts of extreme weather on its own. The plan calls for a coordinated approach across the six member states, combining resources, expertise and information to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience.
Key Priorities of the Emergency Response Plan
The EAC emergency plan prioritises five core areas that span the environmental, health and social dimensions of the El Nino crisis:
- Early warning and anticipatory action – Development of streamlined forecasting systems and rapid communication channels to trigger timely evacuations or protective measures.
- Health preparedness and response – Strengthening health systems to manage water‑borne diseases, vector‑borne outbreaks and the strain on hospitals caused by flooding.
- Infrastructure and tourism resilience – Protection of transport corridors, bridges and key tourism sites from flood damage, together with plans to maintain essential services during heavy‑rain periods.
- Agriculture, food security and livelihoods – Implementation of adaptive farming techniques, crop insurance schemes and food‑distribution networks to mitigate the loss of harvests and sustain local economies.
- Climate mobility and displacement – Structured approaches for monitoring displacement flows, providing safe temporary shelter and ensuring that host communities receive adequate support.
These priorities were agreed upon during the extraordinary ministerial meeting and reflect the shared understanding that El Nino events will produce cross‑border challenges that need joint solutions.
Identified Priority Risk Areas
The plan identifies several high‑risk zones within the EAC that will receive enhanced monitoring and intervention. These zones include:
- Lake Victoria Basin – a hub for agriculture and transport, heavily exposed to seasonal flooding.
- Kenya’s Tana River and coastal regions – where rising water levels threaten irrigation systems and fishing communities.
- Parts of Somalia – vulnerable to heavy rains that can cause flash flooding in townships and affect food supplies.
- Karamoja‑Teso cluster – a region of pastoralism that risks water scarcity and livestock disease.
- The western highlands of Rwanda and Burundi – areas where steep slopes increase the risk of mudslides.
- Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo – heavy rains threatening riverine settlements.
- Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar – major urban centers facing a flood‑risk from rising tides and storm surges.
By concentrating resources in these hotspots, the EAC aims to create a model of integrated disaster risk management that can be adapted by other regions facing similar climate hazards.
Implementation and Timeline
The EAC Secretariat has been tasked with urgently mobilising resources and drafting a detailed implementation plan by 30 November. In parallel, a regional disaster information‑sharing dashboard is slated for launch on 25 November, providing real‑time data on weather patterns, flood levels and health indicators across member states.
The plan also outlines measures to strengthen flood‑risk management and protect critical transport corridors that underpin economic activity across the region. This includes the installation of infrastructure such as hydrological monitoring stations, protective dikes and the development of contingency protocols for road closures.
While not a standalone policy, the emergency response plan integrates existing national strategies on climate adaptation, disaster preparedness and sustainable development. Officials emphasized that the EAC’s coordinated approach would reduce redundancies and ensure that fiscal and human resources are directed where they are most needed.
In the wake of these developments, member states are expected to align their national policies with the regional framework, fostering a climate‑resilient East Africa capable of withstanding the rising frequency and intensity of El Nino‑driven weather events.
