Flood victims seek higher ground
2005-05-09 08:47
Kelafo, Ethiopia - Raging floods have sent thousands of villagers rushing uphill as relentless rains continue pounding portions of southeastern Ethiopia, leaving behind a trail of destruction and misery in this impoverished region.
In Kelafo, some 900 kilometres southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, about 2 000 families are jostling for space atop hills as they make do with hurriedly built shacks.
While downhill, a once teeming village is now marooned by flood waters after the nearby River Wabe Shebel burst its banks on April 23 in the wake of incessant downpour killing at least 170 people in the country's southeastern Somali state.
"It was in the middle of the night when water rose so fast and we could not do anything," said 40-year-old Abdi Omar Elmi, whose six-year-old son and two cousins were killed when devoured by crocodiles.
"My wife took few (belongings), which she could carry on her back, others on her belly and she clutched a child on her arms, but the kid slipped off and drowned," said another man, his head covered with the traditional shawl to shield the scorching sun.
He fled the surging waters with his two wives and 13 children, leaving behind his two reed-thatched huts, some 10 kilometres from the river and now lives in a tarpaulin-roofed makeshift affair.
Water level nothing unusual
Trucks delivering relief have also been stranded waiting for the water level to recede while another one is stuck in mud 500 metres downhill.
A cursory look at the scene reveals nothing extraordinary as the water level never exceeds one metre deep and most houses are still intact a fortnight after the torrential rains came pouring down.
But the residents say even such a water level is enough to disrupt the daily activities depending on livestock rearing and subsistence farming.
"The floods came when I was going to plant sorghum and the farm had already been tilled," said the weary-looking Abdi. "Now this water will make weeds grow on the farm and I will have to restart."
The dust bowl region is, however, prone to such flooding occasioned by the overflow of the Wabe Shebel river whose waters killed 119 people in April 2003, officials said.
In 2003, 11 people died in Kelafo, the capital of Godie region, which has had the highest death toll this year, said Madi Hassan, a local government official.
It is never easy to verify the death toll as most bodies have not been retrieved and the floods are still hindering access to many affected areas, officials said.
Officials say that there are 170 dead, but a nutritionist in the region said "there were no more than 80," people dead as a result of the inundation.
"They blow up the figures so as to receive more aid," added the nutritionist, who requested anonymity.