Floods kill seven more in Somalia, six in Kenya

MOGADISHU, Nov 22 (Reuters) Seven people, including children, and dozens of cattle drowned after a river burst its banks in flood-hit Somalia, residents said today, as aid workers stepped up efforts to help over 300,000 people affected.

In Kenya, local media said six people had died in flooding and several buildings had collapsed.

Floods have killed scores, driven tens of thousands from their homes, submerged villages and washed away bridges and roads in southcentral Somalia, making it difficult to get aid to victims still trapped and stoking fears of disease.

At least five people have been killed by crocodiles as they waded through waist-deep floodwaters, that have submerged large swathes of farmland and washed away food stocks.

Residents in the remote Hagarwaajo village in the southern Middle Juba region said the Juba river had burst overnight.

''Five children and two elderly people drowned. Fifty cattle and 100 goats were also washed away,'' Hussein Mohamed Gudane, a local elder at Hagarwaajo told Reuters by telephone. ''We fear many more will die because it is still raining heavily.'' In the neighbouring Middle Shabelle region, health workers said people were falling ill because of the floodwaters.

''I have treated nearly 30 people, mostly women and children suffering from diarrhoea,'' said Abdi Abdulle Hirsi, a doctor in the town of Marka. ''There must be many more sick victims out there since most of the areas are unreachable.'' The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had started airlifting tarpaulins to assist some 324,000 Somalis.

UN aid bodies say up to 1.8 million people have been affected by torrential rains that have pounded the Horn of Africa, forcing tens of thousands from their homes.

In Kenya, where the coastal and northeastern provinces are the worst hit, six people drowned, local media said today. One television station said three buildings in Mombasa had collapsed after heavy rains there.

Thousands of people living in a refugee camp near the Somali border are being evacuated after storms swept across the area.

The heavy rains in the region are forecast to continue into at least December.

REUTERS LL KP2006