Flood kills 125 in southern Ethiopia
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Monday August 14, 11:35 PM Reuters
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Flood kills 125 in southern Ethiopia*
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A flash flood has killed 125 people in remote
southern Ethiopia a week after more than 250 died in a similar disaster
in the east of the country, police said on Monday.
"The death toll is 125 with more than 870 homes destroyed," Inspector
Daniel Gezahenge, a spokesman for the southern region police force, told
Reuters by telephone.
An official with the state-run Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Agency (DPPA) said Desenetch and Njangache districts, as well as Omorate
town, were swamped when the Omo river burst its banks on Sunday.
"Many villagers are still surrounded by flood water," he said, adding
that a DPPA team was heading to the area, some 1,200 km (745 miles)
south of the capital Addis Ababa.
Flash floods typically hit lowland areas after heavy rains drench
Ethiopia's highlands in the June-August rainy season.
More than 250 people were killed and some 250 remain missing in the east
of the country after the Dechatu river swamped the commercial town of
Dire Dawa last week.