Status of River Breakages along Juba and Shabelle Rivers - Issued March 2024

FAO-SWALIM has updated the status of the river breakages along the Juba and Shabelle Rivers using available Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Four types of breakages have been identified, namely; open, overflow, Canal Flooding Point, and closed with sandbags. The open breakages are those that are currently open as observed on the latest VHR image available. All the observations reported refers to the latest suitable VHR satellite image available, which is indicated in the online database. \r\n\r\n299 Open breakage points have been identified, 190 on the Shabelle River and 109 on the Juba River which require immediate action. Additionally, 97 Canal Overflow points and 747 Overflows were also identified during this season.\r\n\r\nUsers are advised that the methodology is biased towards Remote Sensing (RS) interpretation with only limited “ground truthing” due to access constraints. Open breakages might have been omitted in some cases where satellite images may not have been very clear (e.g. heavy cloud cover) or were not available.