afrol News / IRIN, 20 November - Severe flooding over vast tracts of farmland in Somalia will significantly curtail harvests early in 2007, creating food shortages for numbers of people, an early warning agency said.

Somalia is facing its worst flooding in recent history after both the Juba and Shabelle rivers burst their banks in several locations. Floods have displaced communities, submerged villages, destroyed underground granaries, cut off feeder roads and washed away thousands of hectares of farmland in the Gedo, Juba Valley, Hiran and Shabele Valley regions.

According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net), about 1.1 million people in the affected areas are already facing a humanitarian emergency. In an alert issued on Friday with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Food Security Analysis Unit, Fews Net said the flooding had also affected internal and cross-border cereal trade, which could lead to serious food shortages in the Somali hinterland.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development climate prediction centre has indicated that a combination of moderate El Niño and sea-surface temperatures over the Indian Ocean means that heavy rains, and thus further flooding, will remain likely through early 2007.

Meanwhile, aid is finally reaching the affected populations. The Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS), which is coordinating the relief efforts in Beletweyne, in Hiiraan region, one of the most affected areas, said 2,700 families had received blankets, plastic sheeting and nets.

"From 14 November up to yesterday [Sunday] we distributed blankets, plastic sheeting, mosquito nets and cooking utensils," said Ahmed Abdulle Gure, the head of the SRCS in Beletweyne.

Save the Children-UK (SC-UK), a relief agency operating in the region, said up to 65,000 people had been displaced in Beletweyne and surrounding villages.

Gure said most of the donations were made by the United Nations children’s fund (Unicef) in Somalia.

He said they had run out of provisions but expected to get more within the next few days. "Unicef has promised to bring more and we should be able to reach all the affected," he said.

© afrol News / IRIN

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