One Dead as Tropical Cyclone Sagar Brings Life-Threatening Flood Threat to Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen

Tropical Cyclone Sagar made landfall in Somalia Saturday after making a rare journey into the western Gulf of Aden between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, and is expected to unleash dangerous flash flooding in parts of Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti into the weekend.

(MORE: Hurricane Central)

Tropical Depression 1A was named Sagar by the Indian Meteorological Department, the agency with primary responsibility for tropical cyclone forecasting in the North Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea. Locally, it is known as Cyclonic Storm Sagar. 

Sagar made landfall late Saturday morning, local time (Yemen is 7 hours ahead of U.S. EDT), about 70 miles west-northwest of Berbera, Somalia as the equivalent of a tropical storm, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

At least one elderly woman was killed near Aden, Yemen when her house caught on fire due to Sagar, according to the Associated Press. In addition, the emergency center of Yemen's Health Ministry reported that flash flooding is causing sewage to pour into the streets of Aden, Yemen. 

Sagar gained some strength Friday, according to satellite intensity estimates, taking advantage of a favorable environment of low wind shear and water temperatures up to 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

In a special advisory issued Wednesday and posted by reliefweb.org, the UK Met Office warns that “severe flash flooding and river flooding across the region will lead to a loss of human life, livestock, and the destruction of crops, property and infrastructure.” The Met Office added: “Very heavy rainfall occurring across Western Yemen (linked to, although not directly from the cyclone) is likely to promote cholera infection rates in the weeks ahead.”

In addition to flash flooding, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says the heavy rains could cause favorable breeding conditions for desert locusts, according to the Associated Press.

"Monitoring tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden is a very important part of this strategy because historically they have been the origin or trigger of Desert Locust plagues," according to Keith Cressman, the Senior Locust Forecasting Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

A Rare Track?

A tropical cyclone track this far west in the Gulf of Aden is exceedingly rare.

Since satellite surveillance of tropical cyclones began in 1966, only two other tropical cyclones have moved into the western Gulf of Aden, according to NOAA's historical hurricane tracks database.

Cyclone Megh, the second of back-to-back tropical cyclones that hammered Socotra Island, east of Somalia, made landfall along the Yemeni coast in November 2015.

Tropical Cyclone 1A traversed almost the entire Gulf of Aden before landfalling in northwest Somalia on May 28, 1984. 

Tropical cyclones are most common in the Arabian Sea in spring and autumn, during the transition periods between the strong southwest flow of the summer monsoon and the strong northeast flow that predominates in winter. 

On average, the Arabian Peninsula is affected by a tropical cyclone every year or two.

(IN DEPTH: Category 6 Blog on Cyclone Sagar)