SOMALIA: Areas of Juba Valley inundated by floods

NAIROBI, 10 November 2004 (IRIN) - Large areas of the Juba Valley in southern Somalia have been flooded, with thousand of hectares of farmland inundated by rains, according to sources in the affected region. The district commissioner of the town of Jilib, 380 km south of Mogadishu, Abdullahi Moalim Hussein, told IRIN the floods had destroyed farms and properties in the Middle Juba region. "In October, we had more than three weeks of non-stop rain and it is still raining. People have lost their crops and houses." He said the Deyr rains (September-December) started early this year and "have been the heaviest seen in a long time". Abdullahi said the area had been affected by a combination of flash floods caused by the heavy rains and overflow from the Juba River. "In some villages, the only way in or out is by boat", he added. "All roads have been cut off, severing business activity between the town and the villages." Among the most affected is the village of Faragurow, which is separated from Jilib by the river. Faragurow - which is home to about 600 families - has been cut off when the Juba River burst its banks "a week ago", said Abdullahi. "The village itself is safe, but it is surrounded by water from all sides." Faragurow was set up in the early 1920s by Italians, who were the colonial power in the region at the time, as a safe haven for lepers and it continued as such. The villagers, who were supported by the government, had not received any assistance since the civil war started in 1991. Abdullahi told IRIN that the residents of the village were running out of food and needed help. "Whatever food they had is running out fast and they have nothing to fall back on," he said. The United Nations FAO's (Food and Agricultural Organisation) Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) said in its October report that the rains in some parts were " 160-300 percent above normal" and that river levels were high, causing "localised floods." The situation led to the loss of properties, such as farms. The report, however, said it was "too early to determine the overall magnitude and implications of these early high water level warnings". The situation had been exacerbated by the fact that local farmers are cutting into river embankments in order to irrigate their land, but instead they increase the flood risk, said Abdullahi.