At least 125 people were killed overnight and up to 20 000 marooned by flood waters in south-west Ethiopia after swollen rivers broke their banks and swept through villages, police said on Monday.
”The death toll has reached 125,” Inspector Daniel Gezhegn, a police spokesperson, told Agence France-Presse.
Gezhegn said the river that feeds Lake Turkana, which straddles Ethiopia and Kenya, had broken its banks after a sudden heavy downpour.
The floodwaters swept through five villages in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region, washing away 872 livestock and five grain stores, he added.
”Five villages, with a population of about 15 000 to 20 000, are now surrounded by water and rescue teams are struggling with the help of helicopters and boats to save some of the people, who are in serious danger,” the spokesperson said.
Local officials appealed for equipment and other items to assist rescue efforts.
The latest deaths bring the toll to at least 386 people drowned in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation in nearly two weeks following torrential rains that have been pounding the country in the current June to September wet season.
Earlier this month two rivers burst their banks and swept through east Ethiopia’s Dire Dawa township, killing 256 people and displacing about 10 000 people. Five more drowned in the north.
The World Food Programme has described the situation as a humanitarian crisis and urged the world to help the displaced, who are camped in schools and tents.
Ethiopia, home to about 70-million people, has suffered heavy floods in recent years.
These have compounded the plight of the already drought-afflicted people, who depend mainly on agriculture for their survival.
Last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 260 000 displaced when heavy rains pounded the region, flooding rivers and forcing survivors to cling to trees to escape being attacked by crocodiles. — AFP
