Ethiopia floods cause mass devastation
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday August 19, 2:18 AM
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Ethiopia floods cause mass devastation*
Search and rescue teams kept up frantic efforts to save thousands
marooned by fatal flash floods in southwest Ethiopia, where relief
workers reported near-total devastation.
With poor weather continuing to hamper operations, officials said the
death toll in the remote Omo River valley would rise above the current
figure of 364, potentially sending the nationwide tally from recent
floods soaring.
Across the country, the United Nations said nearly 75,000 people had
been affected by raging waters from unusually heavy seasonal rains, some
of them displaced, others losing property, including valuable livestock.
The official news agency said at least 15,000 people were displaced on
Thursday when Awash River, about 150 kilometres east of Addis Ababa,
burst its banks, but it was unclear whether the displaced were among
those included in the UN figure.
The Awash floods also swept away livestock and damaged farmlands, local
officials told the Ethiopian News Agency.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
appealed for 1.7 million Swiss francs (1.37 million dollars, 1.07
million euros) to provide urgently-needed assistance to thousands of
people affected by steadily spreading flooding in Ethiopia and parts of
Sudan.
Already nearly 900 people in southern, eastern and northern Ethiopia
have been reported dead or missing in the past two weeks and up to 8,000
people in 14 inundated villages in the south remained stranded, they said.
"The reports we are getting from the ground say the situation is
disastrous," Fissahe Begashow, deputy chief of the Ethiopian Red Cross
Society, told AFP.
Helicopter pilots at a military base in Arba Minch, about 500 kilometers
(300 miles) southwest of Addis Ababa, from where relief flights are
taking off, said they had been able to rescue only a handful of stranded
people.
"We were able to airlift about 400 people to higher ground yesterday,"
one pilot told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Our flight spotted
another 1,000 or so people stranded, but we weren't able to land."
Where the pilot was able to land and speak to survivors, he said they
spoke of horrendous suffering from the floods that washed away family
members, livestock and homes when the Omo River burst its banks on Sunday.
"It is horrifying and heartbreaking," he said. "Their stories are
pushing us to do more to rescue people at any cost."
"My wife and I spent the night on a tree branch," said 28-year-old Areg
Lokome, recounting the immediate aftermath of last weekend's floods that
swept through the Southern Nationalities, Nations and People's State.
"We couldn't climb down because we had no idea how deep the water was,"
he told AFP at a temporary camp for those displaced by the flood, as his
pregnant wife, whose parents and brother were killed, stood by.
Air drops of food, clean water and blankets continued as swirling
currents from raging flood waters prevented both helicopters and boats
from reaching affected areas, where officials said they feared outbreaks
of disease.
"The people are in need of urgent help because there is an increased
risk for malaria and other waterborne diseases," said Red Cross official
Atu Lema.
He described the devastation as "massive" and said the loss of livestock
and destruction of granaries would have a long-lasting impact on local
populations.
Overwhelmed regional authorities desperately sought outside help as UN
agencies and private aid organizations pledged to assist in the south,
as well as other areas hit by the flooding.
The flooding in the south came after rivers burst their banks in the
east, where 256 people were killed last week and some 250 are still
missing, and in the north, where at least six people have died.
At least 876 people have either been killed or are unaccounted for with
tens of thousands left homeless and a total of some 73,000 affected,
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA).
The country's meteorological agency warned this week that six areas in
the north, west and south of the country would likely be affected by
unusually heavy seasonal rains before the end of the month.
The rainy season lasts from June to September.
Ethiopia, home to some 70 million people, has repeatedly suffered heavy
floods and droughts in recent years, ruining agriculture that provides
livelihood for the majority in the Horn of Africa nation.