The death toll from more than a week of devastating floods in south-eastern Ethiopia has risen to at least 154 with nearly 260 000 people left homeless, officials said on Wednesday.
In addition to the deaths and damage to the region’s human population, the raging waters have taken a huge toll on livestock and agriculture in the remote, impoverished region, they said.
”The death toll has now reached 154,” said Ramadan Hajji, the emergency relief coordinator for Somali state, 1 380km from Addis Ababa, where the flooding has been centred.
As heavy rain continues to pound the state, officials said they have recorded 258 162 people displaced from 229 villages in 11 districts since April 23 when the Wabe Shebell River, swelled by the downpours, burst its banks.
”Continuing rains and the rising level of water are hampering efforts of rescue workers and keeping them from accessing affected areas,” Ramadan said.
Humanitarian and federal officials said the flood’s toll on livestock and farmland in the state has been particularly disastrous for the impoverished region where many villages rely entirely on subsistence agriculture to survive.
The flooding began after days of uninterrupted rain in the highlands to the north of the affected area and hit most villages at night, taking sleeping residents by surprise.
Before the rains, the area had been repeatedly hit by drought and the dried-up river bed was unable to handle the excess water, leading to flooding along almost its entire length that stretched across the border into Somalia.
On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said flooding in north-eastern Kenya claimed one life and displaced about 25 000 refugees in Dadaab camp.
The camp is located south of the Ethiopian region currently experiencing heavy rains. — Sapa-AFP