afrol News / IRIN, 8 November - At least 10 people have been killed and thousands of others forced to leave their homes, after a river burst its banks in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region, local officials said.

Heavy rainfall was to blame for the rising water levels in the Shabelle River near Jowhar, the regional capital, which have destroyed some farmland. There were also reports of flooding in the southern Gedo region.

"We have 10 confirmed deaths and thousands of people affected by the floods since 1 November," Sheikh Abdisalam Hassan, the governor of Middle Shabelle Region, told IRIN on Wednesday.

One local resident, Muhammad Ibrahim Malimow, said at least 170 villages in the region and around the main town of Johwar had been flooded. Jowhar is 90km northwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

The worst-affected were Huriwa, 55km north of Jowhar, Dudunle, and the village of Garash, 5km south of Jowhar - all of which have been abandoned.

According to Hassan, thousands of had left their homes, while others remain marooned in their villages. Some villagers have moved to higher ground unaffected by the rising water levels.

Local authorities in Jowhar have set up an emergency committee to oversee efforts to build up the embankment of the Shabelle using sandbags to prevent more flooding.

"We need urgent assistance in delivering food, shelter material such as tents, plastic sheeting and blankets," Hassan said. "Clean water to prevent waterborne diseases is also needed."

Hassan said the problem lies in the fact that the country has been without a government since 1991. No one has been able "to de-silt the riverbed or manage the sluice gates on the rivers or adjoining canals. We had one canal but it is no longer functioning".

Farmers, he added, had cut into river embankments to irrigate their land, contributing to the seasonal flooding.

Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned of localised flooding in southern Somalia, following heavy rains in the country and the Ethiopian highlands that have swelled the Juba and Shabelle Rivers.

"Based on latest flood-watch reports from [Somalia Water and Land Information Management unit], we fear the situation could get worse for the Juba Region," Matthew Olins, deputy head of OCHA Somalia, said. "This week, the risk has been moderate, but we are already seeing small-scale damage in Gedo, Middle and Lower Shabelle, Middle and Lower Juba, and areas around Mogadishu."

© afrol News / IRIN

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