At least 200 killed in Ethiopian floods, thousands displaced
Pastor Dale Morgan
Monday August 7, 3:02 AM
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At least 200 killed in Ethiopian floods, thousands displaced*
Flash floods have killed more than 200 people in eastern Ethiopia,
sweeping away many of the victims in their sleep, after a heavy downpour
caused a river to overflow, police said.
"The death toll from the flood caused by the overflow in Dire Dawa
reached 200 by 8:30 pm (1730 GMT)," regional Dire Dawa Police
Commissioner Getachew Asres told AFP.
"Thirty nine of the deceased were children under the age of seven," he
added, speaking to AFP by phone from the ravaged township, about 500
kilometres (300 miles) east of the capital Addis Ababa.
Police said several thousands of people were displaced after the Dire
Dawa River, which cuts through the town, broke its banks and swept
through homesteads late overnight Saturday, causing damage of unknown value.
Ethiopian security forces, aid workers and residents, who scoured for
survivors and bodies, said several thousands of civilians were displaced
and others reported missing in the Addis Ketema, Genfele, Coca Cola and
Aftessa areas, which neighbour the township.
The country's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Office said it had so
far provided food for at least 2,000 flood victims as the search for
survivors went on.
"We have between 2,000 and 3,000 people displaced," Kasahun Debelie, a
local Red Cross official, told AFP by telephone.
"With the ICRC (International Committee for the Red Cross) and other
government organisations, we are trying to facilitate shelters and other
support as the search for more bodies and survivors goes on," he said.
Residents said the casualties of the floods, which are as a result of
the June-to-September rainy season, were mainly women and children, many
of whom were swept away while asleep in poorly constructed shacks along
the river bank in the poverty ravaged region.
"Most of the people in the village known as the 'Coca Cola' area were in
bed when the floods hit the area. The search for more bodies is going on
with the help of the army and local people," a witness told AFP.
Survivors, who said whole families might have been drowned, hoped the
missing people might have escaped to higher grounds when the floods hit.
"We are waiting and hoping that some people might have fled from the
area (to higher grounds) to save their life in the middle of the night.
Otherwise, it would be a disaster to many families and friends," one
survivor, Adugna Lema, told AFP.
The heavy downpour pummelled the area for more than an hour and a half,
causing the River Dire Dawa that passes through the town to burst its
banks and flood in the region in the early morning hours, according to a
witness, Belete Ayalew.
"My home is situated a bit far from the river, I was in bed when I heard
people shouting. I opened the door, the water burst in, forcing me to
escape to the rooftop from where police rescued me, but my house and
property were destroyed," another 45-year-old witness, Abaye Baheru, said.
"While on the rooftop, I saw men, women and children being washed away,
while crying for help," Abaye explained.
Witnesses said the floods destroyed more than 100 homes, markets and
shops, and swept away livestock and vehicles. The full extent of the
damage remained to be assessed.
State media reported that the floods swept the main road linking Dire
Wara, the neighbouring Harar township and the capital Addis Ababa.
Last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 260,000
displaced when heavy rains pounded the same region, which lies close to
Ethiopia's Somali state.
In those floods, swarms of crocodiles devoured villagers, while others
clung on to trees in a desperate attempt to avoid being eaten.
Over the last couple of years, flooding has affected large areas of
eastern and southern Ethiopia, displacing tens of thousands of people
and causing millions of dollars of damage, particulary in the
subsistence agricultural sector, which offers livelihood to many
impoverished people.
The floods follow a devastating drought that hit the east African
region, threatening the lives of about 15 million people.
Ethiopia, a nation of about 70 million people, has repeatedly been
ravaged by natural calamities, notably drought and famine.