SOMALIA-ETHIOPIA: Agencies warn of possible flooding in southern Somalia

Photo: OCHA

Floods have previously caused a lot of damage in the Horn of Africa.

NAIROBI, 2 November 2006 (IRIN) - Localised flooding could have a serious impact on southern Somalia, following heavy rains in the country and the Ethiopian highlands that have swelled the Juba and Shabelle rivers, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Thursday.

"Based on latest flood watch reports from [Somalia Water and Land Information Management unit], we fear the situation could get worse for the Juba Region [in the south]," Matthew Olins, deputy head of OCHA Somalia said. "This week, the risk has been moderate, but we are already seeing small-scale damage in Gedo, Middle and Lower Shabelle, Middle and Lower Juba, and areas around Mogadishu."

He added: "If we have flooding in Gedo, then we might expect something worse in Juba, given the continuation of heavy rainfall in the region and patterns of flooding during the Deyr [rainy] season. We are carrying out an inter-agency assessment of the situation in the Gedo region."

The Union of Islamic Courts, which controls large parts of southern Somalia, has started distributing assistance to flood victims in Lower and Middle Juba, according to sources.

Meanwhile, stagnant water and crocodiles have been hampering efforts to help thousands of people left homeless across southeastern Ethiopia, and the death toll as a result of the flooding continues to rise.

"The number of dead is 68 now," Muktar Mohamed, flood emergency coordinator for the Ethiopian government Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau in Somali region said on Wednesday. "Six people have been injured by crocodiles and five eaten by them."

More than 1,000 livestock and 15,000 hectares of land have been destroyed by the floods that have affected 94 villages and nearly 280,000 people.

"We still don't have a precise figure for those displaced, but they are thousands," Muktar added.

"The fact that crocodiles hamper the aid operations is possible, it is well known that the Shebelle is full of them," Sisay Tadesse, spokesperson for the disaster prevention and preparedness agency, said in Addis Ababa.

"Today we are starting to airlift non-food and food items from Dire Dawa [eastern Ethiopia] to Gode. The aid will then be flown to Mustahil and Kelafo by helicopter," he said. "We have sent out a team to Gode today to assess the situation."

The riverbank towns of Mustahil and Kelafo, 80 kms and 150 kms south of Gode, have been worst hit by the floods. They are inaccessible by road and surrounded by water.

Reports of the situation began to emerge on Monday, after 15 people were killed when the Shabelle River burst its banks following a week of torrential rains. By Wednesday, the water level had stabilised at 12 metres, twice its normal height, after the rains eased.

On Wednesday, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) reported that although the floods were expected to decrease, water levels were likely to remain high. In contrast to the problems posed by the flooding, FEWS Net added that rains have marked a strong start to the second rainy season, creating good conditions for pastures away from flood-prone areas.

At least 639 people were killed in August when unusually heavy rains triggered massive flooding in the eastern, northern and southern regions of the country. A total of 357,000 people were affected by those floods, which aid agencies said were the worst in decades.

jm/eo