A Kenyan town is submerged amid deadly floods

STORY: Kenya's Garissa is under water.

People here displaced from their homes amid the heavy rains that have inundated towns across East Africa.

This is resident Abdalla Dulo.

"Our houses have been demolished, our farms are flooded, our chicken and goats have drowned, our cooking pans, mattresses, seats, overall, we have lost many things through the floods."

In Kenya, the floods have killed at least 15 people, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

Red Cross regional coordinator Mohammed Abdikadir says the situation is "dire".

"There is an urgent need for humanitarian support because there are displacements, there are areas that are cut off and this rain, it has rained all over the region, not a specific place."

Somalia's National Disaster Management Agency said on Wednesday (November 8) that 29 people there had also died, and more than 300,000 forced to flee their homes.

The regional deluge has been caused by the combined effect of two weather phenomena, El Nino and the Indian Ocean Dipole, said Nazanine Moshiri - a climate analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Those climate patterns impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall.