29/4/2005
Now Deadly Floods Hit Horn Of Africa

After the chronic years of drought, which still persists in parts of the Horn of Africa, days of torrential rain have caused severe flooding in Ethiopia and Somalia. The UN report more than 40 people killed with entire villages swept away and farmlands, with their growing crops, destroyed. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN relief agencies have been scrambling to get food and basic supplies to desperate families inundated by floodwater from the overflowing Wabe Shabelle River. Areas of the Somali region of Ethiopia remain at risk due to the rising river level, which is unprecedented.

The Ethiopian Government is responding, and local officials report that current needs include food, shelter, blankets and utensils and medical care due to the potential increase of cases of malaria and water-borne
diseases.

Hargeisa – the main city in the Somaliland region – was hit last Sunday evening. The floods washed away one of the two bridges in the south-western part of the city and damaged huts and houses on the banks of the river as well as electric power lines.