Ethiopia braced on Wednesday for a sharp rise in the death toll from flash floods that have killed at least 455 people in the south and east of the country this month and have now spread north.
As efforts continued to rescue up to 20 000 people marooned in the south, where 194 people died on the weekend, and locate 250 missing in the east, where 256 drowned last week, new floods were reported north of the capital.
Officials in the remote Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s State said poor weather that hampered relief operations in the Omo River basin had lifted but feared for the worst as they discovered more inundated villages.
“As there are four more villages that were unreachable for the last two days, there is a fear the death toll may rise,” regional police spokesperson Daniel Gezhegn said.
Late on Tuesday, authorities said the flood-related deaths in the region about 700km south-west of Addis Ababa had risen from 135 to 194 and that residents of at least seven villages were sleeping outside.
Heavy rains had grounded emergency helicopter flights to the area forcing rescuers to send supplies there by boat, but Gezhegn told Agence France-Presse he was hopeful improvements in the weather would allow better access.
“If the weather remains as it is now there will be a chance of reaching the remaining villages and we will have a clearer picture of the magnitude of the death toll and damage,” he said.
Meanwhile, the search to find 250 people still unaccounted for in the eastern town of Dire Dawa continued apace amid ongoing relief operations by United Nations agencies and other aid groups, officials said.
More than 10 000 people are estimated to have been left homeless by the flooding there, about 500km from Addis Ababa.
And the state-run Ethiopian News Agency said floods from two rivers in the northern Amhara region had killed at least one person, submerging 13 villages and forcing nearly 13 000 from their homes in recent days.
Of the 12 769 displaced, emergency personnel have rescued 4 518 people using boats, it reported, citing a local official in south Gondor, about 560km north of the capital.
Last week, officials said five people in northern Ethiopia — three in Gondor and two in Kemissie — had drowned in flood waters. — Sapa-AFP