Twenty-nine people, mostly children, were killed and 35 wounded in weekend flash floods in the eastern Ethiopian city of Jijiga, officials said.
”We have recovered 29 bodies so far from early Friday’s floods in Cheraketo [district]. A majority of those were children,” regional president Abdullahi Hassan said.
”Another 35 were injured and 162 homes were destroyed when torrential rains swept through” overnight on Friday to Saturday, he added.
The region hit by the flash floods is also facing a drought from the failed rainy seasons. Last month, aid agencies warned that over 3,4-million people in several states, including the Somali region, required immediate food aid.
The United Nations also said up to six million children were threatened by the drought, of which 126 000 were already suffering from severe malnutrition.
”It [the drought] is totally unexpected. Some areas such as the Somali region have been exposed to malnutrition and other problems due to the poor rains,” said Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse, who led a government delegation to Jijiga on Saturday. — Sapa-AFP