Over 100 killed in southern floods

Flooding in southern Ethiopian has killed 119 people and forced some 110,000 from their homes, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. Quoc Nguyen, UNICEF’s emergency coordinator in the region, said the crisis was getting worse as disease started to take its toll on affected families. He also revealed that a malaria outbreak had hit the flood-affected areas of the remote Somali Region in southeastern Ethiopia. “The situation is getting worse because of a lack of access to the areas that have been hit,” he told IRIN. “It is difficult to have a clear idea of what is going on.” The biggest killers at the moment were diarrhoea and respiratory infections, he said, but crocodiles were also attacking people. Rescue workers were using motorboats and a helicopter to try and access families cut off from their homes. The region, which has been severely affected by drought, was hit after the Wabe Shebelle River burst its banks on 22 April, flooding dozens of villages in the region. “The main issue for us is to get to the people hit by the flooding and provide support but it is an extremely tough logistical operation,” Nguyen said. UNICEF is distributing emergency medical kits, food and sending in water treatment facilities that are being brought in from Djibouti.