Nearly 5.5 million children in the region are threatened by acute malnutrition

An estimated 13 million people in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia are facing severe hunger as the Horn of Africa experiences its worst drought in decades, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The region is experiencing its third consecutive rainy season and recorded its driest conditions since 1981, the UN's World Food Programme said.

Lack of water is destroying crops and inflicted "abnormally" high livestock deaths, forcing rural families who rely on herding and farming to abandon their homes.