Torrential rains kill five, cause massive destruction in Somaliland

Five people died and more than 1,000 others were displaced on Sunday when torrential rains battered Hargeysa, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, the town's governor, Abdillahi Irro, told IRIN on Monday. "The number of deaths might be higher since some villages outside Hargeysa were also affected by the torrential rains, and reports on the damages, deaths and casualties have not all come in yet," he said. He said more than 500 families, among them elderly women and children, were displaced. He added that 270 families had been relocated to a camp belonging to the Somaliland police force, where they were receiving food aid and non-food items from relief agencies and the government. Others had sought refuge with relatives and friends, he said. For decades, torrential rain and floods have devastated Somaliland, located to the northwest of Somalia, and weakened the region, already suffering from the ravages of a civil war and recurring drought. Sunday night's deluge caused the seasonal Hargeysa River to burst its banks, triggering floods that destroyed tens of houses, several graves, two public resorts and the premises of several NGOs. The floods also damaged the town's infrastructure, sweeping away a pedestrian bridge, vehicles and electricity poles. Another bridge, used by motorists to cross from the worst hit eastern side of Hargeysa to the west, was severely damaged. Roads were flooded, trapping people in their neighbourhoods, with several left clinging to trees and sheltering on small islets for safety. "The main water source for Hargeysa town, situated in the Geedoble area, was damaged after the machines, including the water pipes, were swept away," Irro said. Food stocks, which are usually stored underground, were destroyed, while the homes and irrigated crops of thousands of families were washed away. Livestock deaths are estimated at about 200. Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin toured the hardest hit areas on Monday, and appointed a committee to assess the overall damage. He also appealed to donors for emergency help for those affected. "The poor were most affected by the floods that hit the greater Hargeysa area," Bob McCarthy, the emergency officer for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Somalia, told IRIN on Tuesday. He said UNICEF, in conjunction with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the UN World Food Programme, the Somaliland ministries for the interior and for planning, carried out a rapid assessment of the damage on Monday. "Because of the standing water, we are concerned about the possibility of waterborne diseases," McCarthy said. "We have initiated hygiene-awareness programmes to prevent that eventuality." The WFP country director, Robert Hauser, told IRIN that the agency had distributed nine mt of assorted food to some 170 households. "In addition, we have some limited standby food commodities in our stores in Hargeysa," he said.