ETHIOPIA: 15 die, thousands displaced as flash floods batter southeast
Pastor Dale Morgan
ETHIOPIA: 15 die, thousands displaced as flash floods batter southeast*
30 Oct 2006 15:28:11 GMT
Source: IRIN
NAIROBI, 30 October (IRIN) - Fifteen people were killed and 12,000
villagers feared displaced in southeastern Ethiopia after a river burst
its banks during torrential rainfall that has pounded the area for the
past two days, officials of the country's Disaster Prevention and
Preparedness Agency said on Monday.
"The Wabe Shebelle burst its banks on Friday night and flooded adjoining
areas after heavy rains in Ethiopia's highlands," Sisay Tadesse, the
agency's spokesman, said.
He said 44 water pumps had been washed away. The worst-affected area is
Gode, about 650 km southeast of the nation's capital, Addis Ababa, and
the towns of Kelafo and Mustahil.
According to the report, 13 people were killed in Kelafo, 750 km
southeast of Addis Ababa, and two in Mustahil, 90 km farther south.
Sisay said at least 20 villages were still submerged on Monday in Kelafo
and 15 around Mustahil.
He said the situation was being carefully monitored. "We still have to
assess the magnitude of the damage," he said.
He said the agency had started taking measures to avoid a wider
catastrophe and 19,721 metric tonnes of food aid would be sent to the
affected areas from Monday.
"Most of these areas had already been hit by the floods over the
summer," he said. "It is a cause for concern."
He said the rains on the highlands started four weeks ago.
At least 639 people were killed in August when unusually heavy rains
triggered massive flooding in the eastern, northern and southern regions
of the country. A total of 357,000 people were affected by those floods,
which the United Nations humanitarian agencies said were the worst in
decades.
Ethiopia, home to 77 million people, has faced heavy floods and droughts
in recent years along with other countries in the Horn of Africa.
Flooding usually occurs in the lowlands after heavy rains in the
June-September season drench the highlands. This year's flooding was
especially damaging because it followed a severe drought.