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At least
five people including three children have been killed after
houses collapsed as heavy rains and devastating floods are
hitting southern Somalia which had long been suffering from
serious drought.
Reports
reaching the Somali capital Mogadishu indicate that Tieglow
district is the worst affected by the floods in Bakol region
where five people were killed and 52 houses were destroyed
by the rains.
According
to Abdi Nur Derow (Isgow), the district commissioner of Teiglow,
the floods followed more than eight hours of heavy rains and
damaged an estimated over 1800 tons of sorghum, maize, sugar,
wheat and flour in the market place.
Hundreds
of families displaced by the floods in Tieglow and Bakol regional
capital of Huddor are currently scattered around the villages
outside these towns without food or shelter.
The neighboring
region of Bay is not any better even though the floods have
killed no one so far.
Over 800
men from the four residential quarters of Baidoa town have
been fighting the floods which are threatening to cut off
the bridge linking Baidoa town to Huddor and Luq districts.
According
to Mohamed Ali Aden Qalinleh, governor of the Bay region,
heavy rains which continued in the past 20 hours are threatening
two residential areas in the town, especially Horsed area
where the people have already started evacuating their offspring
and a little of belongings.
Reports
from Qoryoley town in Lower Shabelleh region, 120 kilometers
southwest of Mogadishu, indicate that the village of Bambas
has been washed away by floods after Shabelleh river burst
its banks Thursday.
According
to the commissioner of Qoryoley district, Ali Hussein Aliyow
Ibrow, over 500 families who lived in Bambas village have
now moved to Mallayley village, which is itself among seven
other endangered villages in the region.
The local
authorities have reopened the dam of Qoryoley town so as to
minimize the flow of water to those villages.
However,
one question still remains to be answered: Who is going to
feed those thousands of destitute families displaced by the
floods.
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