Eight killed by storm as floods continue
Pastor Dale Morgan
Eight killed by storm as floods continue*
From correspondents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
September 15, 2006 03:16am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
AT least eight people, including a family of seven, were killed in a
fierce rainstorm that pounded eastern Ethiopia as floods continued to
ravage the country.
The new fatalities brought the nationwide toll from unusually heavy
seasonal rains and flash floods since last month to at least 647 and
came in Dire Dawa, which is still recovering from deadly August
flooding, officials said.
The seven-member family was killed when rains late yesterday collapsed
their small shack in the town, about 500km east of Addis Ababa, regional
police spokesman Biniam Fikru said.
“The house broke down because of the heavy rain and killed the whole
family,” he said from Dire Dawa.
An eighth person, an 18-year-old boy was electrocuted by a fallen power
line.
Dire Dawa was the first Ethiopian municipality to be hit by the fatal
flash floods in early August when two rivers burst their banks, killing
at least 256 people, and displacing more than 10,000.
No new inundations were reported from yesterday's storm but the United
Nations said this week devastating floods continued to wreak havoc
across Ethiopia, affecting 357,000 people.
More than 136,000 of those have been left homeless, swamping temporary
shelter sites and hampering aid deliveries, particularly in the northern
Amhara region, where nearly 100,000 people 37,000 of them displaced, are
affected, it said.