Abdi Omar Elmi was sleeping when floodwaters swept his six-year-old son to his death. Seconds later, he said, crocodiles seized his two nephews and dragged them off as the surging torrent washed away their traditional stick hut.
“I have lost everything,” said the 40-year-old farmer from the safety of nearby Kelafo town in Somali region, a desolate area of eastern Ethiopia.
He never found the bodies of his nephews or his son, Farah.
Somali region, which is normally drought-stricken and has an average rainfall of a little more than 250mm a year, has been battered by heavy rains and flooding.
Government officials estimate that 155 people have died in the deluge that began on April 23. They say disease outbreaks among flood survivors could kill more.
Wearing the clothes in which he managed to flee, Abdi added: “We didn’t expect the flood. It was dark and we were trying to grab things to take with us, but we did not have any time.
“The water was rising so quickly and was up to my chest. My wife put one of our children on her back and was holding the others. But Farah slipped out of her hand.”
Although floodwaters have subsided in many areas, hundreds of villages remain cut off. Nearby Mustahil is still inaccessible. Trucks waiting to deliver aid are stranded under water on the sole road leading to the town.
Abdi, a father of 14, is still living on a hillside under plastic sheeting. His home and farmland, which lie 10km from the Wabe Shebelle River, are still under water.
The crocodile-infested river is the largest in Ethiopia and snakes its way 1 300km from the Ethiopian highlands into Somalia before pouring into the Indian Ocean. It burst its banks after days of torrential rain and is still 5m above normal level. More rains are expected.
The Somali region regularly floods, and the water plays a vital role in the local ecosystem by regenerating pasture for animals and farmers. Officials said, however, that this time the floodwaters left in their wake a trail of destruction. Because of the scale and timing of the flooding, many people were killed.
Mesfin Andargie, a government health and nutrition expert who was dispatched to the region to assess the crisis, said they now fear the spread of disease.
“We are concerned about malaria, diarrhoea and cholera. We need medicines and have to get clean water to people as a priority.”
He said there already are cases of malaria, dysentery and bilharzia infections.
Relief aid is vital in this part of the world, where millions eke out a hand-to-mouth existence, living each day on a knife-edge. Usually sun-parched, it is one of the poorest and least-developed regions in Ethiopia, lacking telephones, roads, schools and hospitals.
The floodwaters have isolated villages from food and medical aid. Two military helicopters that were bringing in support have been pulled out.
In Gode, about 1 000km away, about a thousand tonnes of wheat sit in a warehouse. Two boats, covered in dust, sit alongside a broken propeller — all that has stopped them being mobilised to ferry in supplies.
Mardi Hassan, the chairperson of Kelafo district, 900km south-east of the capital, Addis Ababa, said 14 people died in his borough — and six bodies are still missing.
“People were sleeping when the floods came and that was why it was so bad,” he said.
“It was mainly the old and the children who died,” he added, saying these are the worst floods he has seen for a decade.
Of the local population of 165 000, almost 12 000 people are homeless. About 500ha of farmland have been destroyed.
Around Kelafo’s flattened villages, a ring of compacted, still-damp straw is the only sign that some settlements once existed there. Officials estimate 84 villages have been destroyed in this area.
A week ago, the 1 600 square kilometre Kelafo district received 350 cartons of biscuits, some plastic sheeting and blankets.
“This is not even enough for one village,” 28-year-old Mardi said. “I do not know why we are not getting any more help.”
According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), serious damage was also reported in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hartishek and Fafen in Jijiga zone. Up to 155 shelters completely collapsed or disintegrated.
An assessment team, Ocha reported in a situation update on Monday, found “mud mixed with faeces and large amounts of standing water throughout the camp”. As a result, the physical condition of the IDPs — especially children — is poor.
Ocha also reported that two kebeles in the Humbo woreda of Wolayita zone had flooded after the Bilate River burst its banks. It reportedly killed two people, displaced 6 755 and destroyed 1 017ha of crop land as well as killing livestock.
The Ethiopian government said it is trying to get aid in, but remote villages are still unreachable, hampering relief efforts.
Simon Mechale, head of the federal government’s emergency services, told journalists: “It is a very difficult operation. We are having difficultly transporting relief into Somali region. Some of the areas are still inaccessible.
“But I think in the end we have managed to distribute some aid to ease the difficult situation in these areas,” he added. — Irin