Floods disrupt relief efforts in Somali region

Floods have disrupted relief efforts in Ethiopia's southeastern Somali Region making travel impossible in some areas, a UN agency said on Wednesday. Trucks laden with relief items had been stuck on impassable roads for nearly three weeks, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "Efforts by the government, UN and relief agencies are being hampered by poor road conditions, making travel impossible in some areas," Paul Herbert, OCHA's head in Ethiopia, told IRIN. New flooding was causing new displacements in an area stretching from Kelafo to Mustahil town, where original floodwaters had receded and people were returning to their homes. A joint government and UN assessment team arrived in the region on 25 May to assess the scale of the floods and to recommend an appropriate emergency response. The number affected remains unclear, with conflicting reports of the number of people in need; estimates range from 25,000 to more than 60,000. As many as 154 people are thought to have died in the floods. The team was expected to re-examine the damage and needs of flood-affected areas in Gode, Jijiga, Kebridehar and Degehabur zones. Flooding first hit the remote region in late April when Ethiopia's largest river, the Wabe Shebelle, burst its banks. According to OCHA, recent flooding was also reported in the Denan area of Gode zone, while heavy rains had also hit parts of Fik zone. OCHA added that the Genale and Dawa rivers in the western parts of Somali Region had overflowed their banks, interrupting communications within large parts of Afder and Liben zones. The agency said road inaccessibility had prevented food aid from reaching many of the flood-affected areas. In addition, floods had hampered efforts by UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to deliver relief to Gode. UNICEF, in conjunction with the government's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), sent 17 lorries with relief items for flood-affected populations, but seven of the trucks remained stuck on the roads by 29 June. Until the access problems eased, OCHA said the World Food Programme (WFP) was making arrangements to provide funds, through the DPPC, to transport 870 mt of maize currently in stock in Gode. The Somali region regularly suffers from severe droughts, with average rainfall of just over 250 mm a year. Flooding usually occurs at this time of the year, and the water is used to regenerate soil for pasture. In 2003, 119 people died in the last major floods in Ethiopia.