ADDIS ABABA - At least 72 people have been killed and thousands more made homeless in devastating floods that have submerged more than 30 villages in southeast Ethiopia, an official said Tuesday. People, housing, other property and livestock have been washed away by raging waters from Wabe Shebell river which burst its banks at the weekend after days of heavy rains, the official said. "The death toll right now stands at 72," said Ahmed Abdi Mouhamoud, a World Food Programme (WFP) official in Gondie 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa. "At least 16 villages are surrounded by water and we are unable to figure out the death toll in those areas," he told AFP adding that another 15 villages in Musahin area 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Gondie were also reported to be under water.The flooding, which began on Saturday, followed days of uninterrupted rain in the highlands to the north of the affected area in Ethiopia's Somali state and hit most villages at night, taking sleeping residents by surprise. Before the flooding the area had been repeatedly hit by drought.
| Drought, floods: make up yer damned minds! |