Roads and floods in Somalia: damage, design and maintenance

Where Xidig members may contribute

These are learning and skills opportunities, not confirmed jobs or contracts.

• Hydrology and drainage design: sizing culverts, drifts and bridges for Somali rivers and flash floods.
• Road maintenance systems: inventories, condition surveys and budgeting tools.
• Local knowledge: recording where roads flood, when, and for how long.
• Labour-based methods: building and maintaining rural roads with local workers.

Possible services, research, supplier or collaboration roles

• A flood-point map of main routes, built from members' travel and public reports.
• Training for local engineers and contractors in drainage design and maintenance.
• Low-cost crossings such as drifts and causeways for rural roads.
• Road-and-water designs that harvest runoff for farms and livestock.

Who may find this useful

• Civil, highway and water engineers.
• Road contractors and consultants.
• Transport operators and traders.
• Humanitarian logistics staff and local authorities.

What floods do to Somalia's roads, and how to build for them

Recent flood damage.

• 2019: the assessment says the floods left "nearly 70 percent" of Beledweyne under water. Total damage and losses across all sectors were more than US$260 million, and transport was the largest share.
• 2023: OCHA reported that "Bridges have collapsed in Baardheere and Buurdhuubo", and that aid agencies delivered 43 boats to reach areas where roads were impassable. The 2023 assessment covered only 16 districts, so it understates national damage.
• A recurring pattern: an OCHA update from May 2020 describes trucks "stuck for days" on the supply route from Gaalkacyo to Hobyo and other towns, and roads around Kismayo made impassable.

How flood-resilient roads are designed.

• In current projects: the African Development Bank's 2025 appraisal for two road sections describes "longitudinal side drains, cross-drainage culverts, and erosion control measures, informed by hydrological assessments", "elevated embankments in low-lying and flood-prone sections", gabions for slope stabilisation, bitumen modified to resist heat, and new bridges. It rates the project as highly vulnerable to climate risks.
• Roads that manage water: a 2022 scoping study for Somaliland, by an NGO with a research partner, says "Water generally causes 35-80% of road damage" and recommends drifts, culverts, check dams and roadside water harvesting, with designs matched to local soils, slopes and rainfall.
• Low-cost crossings: in 2016 the ILO built a drift to protect a rehabilitated gravel road in Baidoa from flooding.
• Local labour: an ILO programme in Baidoa funded by KfW (US$11.5M, 2019–2025) planned to rehabilitate about 20 km of roads with local labour and was expected to generate "more than 300,000 workdays".
• Standards: a GIZ project funded by Germany and the EU (2014–2024) says national road standards "have been developed and established in conformity with international standards". The project worked in several regions, including repairs to 52 culverts on the Hargeisa–Kalabaydh road; Xidig did not find the standards document online.

Maintenance, overloading and funding.

• The gap: the ministry of public works' 2025 report says roads "are not resilient enough to withstand climate challenges", and plans to "Manage flooding during rainy season by including robust drainage systems in renovation designs".
• A plan: the African Development Bank describes "a road maintenance framework set for implementation between 2026 and 2029", plans "to establish a Roads Authority", and a roads development policy.
• Overloading: for the Zeila–Asha Addo section, the African Development Bank says the Somaliland Roads Development Agency "will be enforcing axle load control". It says road maintenance there is funded mainly under a Special Road Levy Act (fuel levies, transport taxes and export fees), and that this is not enough to meet maintenance needs. Xidig found no federal axle-load regulation or road fund.
• World Bank: the Somalia Infrastructure Development for Access and Jobs Program, Phase 1 (P513127), a US$160M grant approved in May 2026, has a component on "Sustainable Operations and Maintenance" (US$8.5 million) that supports maintenance plans for the roads, drainage and airports it finances. Its road works are a 63 km section from Hargeisa to the Ethiopian border at Ina Guha, according to its April 2026 appraisal document. Its February 2026 concept note, under an earlier name, said "operations and maintenance are underfunded".

Climate plans.

• Somalia's 2025 climate pledge (NDC 3.0): "A total of $1,400 billion (23%) will be directed toward improving connectivity, and climate proofing infrastructure in urban and rural areas", including roads, bridges and drainage. The figure is printed this way; as 23% of the plan's adaptation total of about US$6.3 billion, it means about US$1.4 billion.
• National Adaptation Plan: Somalia submitted one in September 2025. Xidig could not open the document to check its transport measures.

What this means (Xidig's interpretation). Somalia's road problem is not only too few paved roads but roads and bridges that fail in floods and are not maintained. The design methods are known and already in use on donor-funded sections. The harder part is a steady maintenance budget, control of overloaded trucks, and hydrological data for bridges.

Dependencies and implementation constraints

• Hydrological data for rivers and flash-flood channels, which is scarce.
• Maintenance funding that lasts beyond donor projects.
• An institution to own the network, such as the planned roads authority.
• Security and access for survey and construction teams.
• Coordination between the federal ministry, regional road agencies and donors.

Risks and unknowns

• Bridges are the most expensive part of flood recovery and the most likely to fail.
• Rebuilding to the old design, which can fail again in the next flood.
• Overloaded trucks that damage new surfaces quickly.
• Unmeasured damage: there is no national assessment for the 2024 and 2025 floods in the sources Xidig found.

Questions members should verify before acting

1. Which road sections flood most often, and how long are they closed?
2. Will the maintenance framework have its own budget, and from what revenue?
3. What design standard will rehabilitation works use?
4. Which roads will later phases of the World Bank programme cover, and when will work start?

What is confirmed, and what isn't

Confirmed

• Flood damage to roads and bridges in 2019 and 2023, and road cut-offs in 2024 and 2025.
• The resilience features in the African Development Bank's road sections.
• The planned maintenance framework and roads authority.
• The climate-plan allocation for infrastructure, as printed.

Our interpretation

• Maintenance and drainage matter as much as new paving.

Not yet verified

• Damage figures for the 2024–2026 floods.
• The content of the National Adaptation Plan for roads.
• The roads in later phases of the World Bank programme.

Relevant next steps

• Ask the Ministry of Public Works, Reconstruction and Housing for the maintenance framework and design standards.
• Engineers: follow tenders from the African Development Bank and World Bank road programmes.
• Members who travel main routes: record flood points and closure times.