UNICEF says floods swept away entire villages, destroyed large amounts of farmland in Somalia last month
NAIROBI - Floods caused by heavy rains killed at least 40 people, swept away entire villages and destroyed large amounts of farmland in Somalia last month, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday.
In addition to the deaths, more than 2,000 families in parts of central and southern Somalia and another 270 families in the northwestern breakaway republic of Somaliland were displaced, it said.
The raging flood waters caused extensive damage, including to bridges, as they swept through villages, uprooting large trees and burying property under mud, UNICEF said in its monthly review of the situation in Somalia.
One resident of the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa, where the offices of Handicap International and a French charity had to be evacuated, said it was the worst flood in the area since 1953, UNICEF said.
The flooding began in late April in both Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia after torrential rains hit the region. At least 170 people in Ethiopia's southern Somali state were killed by flash floods or eaten by crocodiles.