Southern areas hit by flooding

Large areas of the Juba Valley in southern Somalia have been flooded, with thousand of hectares of land inundated by flood waters, according to sources close to the office of the new Somali Prime Minister, Ali Khalif Galeyr. The floods have destroyed farms, livestock and houses in the Lower Juba and Middle Juba regions, the source added. Kismayo businessman Adan Hassan Dhakoke told IRIN that all business activity between Kismayo and Mogadishu had come to a halt because the main road linking the two cities had been cut by the floods. Meanwhile, UNICEF reported that the situation did not appear grave. “There is flooding, but at this point it does not look massive,” according to UNICEF emergency officer Sheldon Yett. So far, the information available to agencies indicated that 100 families in Arare village, north of Kismet, had been affected, and UNICEF had already distributed blankets, sandbags and mosquito nets, Yett said. UNICEF was monitoring the situation and would “respond accordingly”, the official added. The problem of flooding is exacerbated by farmers who intentionally pierce river embankments to use flood waters as a means of irrigating their farms, according to humanitarian sources.