Doctors said they had received bodies from villages which were inundated in the country's Dire Dawa region, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of the capital, Addis Ababa.

"We have now received some 72 bodies and 50 other people injured, and we are expecting more," a doctor in the government-run Dilchora hospital told AFP by phone on condition of anonymity.

Red Cross officials said the death toll could be much higher. They said police and rescue workers were scouring villages in search of survivors and bodies.

The floods cut off the electricity supply to the township which lies in the Ethiopian lowlands.

"We have mobilized Red Cross volunteers to look for bodies and help survivors," said Kefelwe Alemu, an official from the Red Cross.

He added: "The disaster is huge. It is quite difficult to give the exact number (of victims), it could be in hundreds. We are now simply collecting the bodies and helping the injured. We may not be able to have exact figure until we search every demolished house."

Residents said the casualties of the floods, which are a result of the June-to-September rain season, were mainly women and children, many of whom were swept away while asleep.

"Most of the people in the village known as the 'Coca Cola' area were in bed when the flood hit the area. The search for more bodies is going on with the help of the army and the people of the city," a witness told AFP.

The heavy downpour pounded the area for more than an hour and a half, causing the River Dire Dawa that passes through the town to burst its banks and flood nearby homes in the early morning hours, according to a witness, Belete Ayalew.

"My home is situated a bit far from the river, I was in bed when I heard people shouting. I opened the door, the water burst, forcing me to escape to the rooftop from where police rescued me, but my house and property were destroyed," another 45-year-old witness, Abaye Baheru, said.

"While on the rooftop, I saw men, women and children being washed away, while crying for help," Abaye explained.

Witnesses said the floods destroyed more than 100 residential houses, markets and shops, and washed away livestock and vehicles. However it was not yet clear the full extent of the damage from one of the worst floods to hit the region.

Last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 260,000 displaced when heavy rains pounded the same region, which lies close to the Ethiopia's Somali state.

In those floods, swarms of crocodiles devoured villagers, while others were clinging to trees in desperate attempts to avoid being eaten.

Over the last couple of years, flooding has affected large areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia, displacing tens of thousands of people and causing millions of dollars of damage, particulary in the subsistence agricultural sector, which offers livelihood to many impoverished people.

The floods follow a devastating drought that hit the east African region, threatening the lives of about 15 million people.

Ethiopia, a nation of about 70 million people, has repeatedly been ravaged by natural calamities, notably drought and famine.

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