We often associate Africa with devastating droughts but not this year. The monsoon rains is so heavy Lake Turkana in Kenya is losing its capacity to take in more water. Since August, almost 1,000 people have been killed in flash floods while 120,000 have been evacuated in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported, "Thousands of people are in need of urgent humanitarian relief as entire communities have been displaced, disrupted, bereaved, and have lost vital livestock and farmland."

And things will get worse before they get better according to humanitarian aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres.

If rivers overflow, dams and levees in Ethiopia could give way in the coming weeks. Flood waters have already reached threatening levels in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and has affected 30,000 people in Niger and 20,000 in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

Outbreaks of malaria and water-borne diseases like cholera are also expected.

The countries most affected by the extreme rainfall are located in what is often called the Horn of Africa. It is also known as the Somali Peninsula and extends for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea. Covering the countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, the area is inhabited by about 86.5 million people.