"We need an estimated 7.6 million dollars to meet the emergency need requirements, logistic support as well as medium term rehabilitation need in flood affected areas of the Somali state," Sesay said.

"We need this aid as soon as possible to meet the need of the affected populations," he added. "A total of 362,000 people have been affected, of which 80 people have reportedly died and 122,500 are displaced."

Residents in villages surrounding Kelafo and Mustahil towns, 80 and 150 kilometres (50 and 90 miles) from Gode -- the capital of the far-flung Somali state, are the most affected after river Wabe Shabelle breached its banks.

The region lies near the border with Somalia, which has also been wrecked by killer floods sparked by three weeks of torrential rains that have so far claimed 89 people, some of whom were devoured by crocodiles lurking in the flood waters.

The recent flooding is the second to hit the Ethiopia after the August-September deluge, said to be the worst in recent times, killed 639 people and affected 357,000 others according to the UN humanitarian agency.

The impoverished nation in the Horn of Africa, home to about 70 million, has in recent years suffered cycles of devastating drought and killer floods that have severely disrupted the lives of millions of people who mainly rely on agriculture for survival.

Early this month, the UN's WFP said around 1.5 million farmers require urgent humanitarian assistance as large numbers of livestock died, wells and boreholes dried up, malnutrition rates increased and disease became rampant in the Somali state alone.

earlier related report
War fears could kill relief efforts for Somali flood victims
Nairobi (AFP) Nov 24 - A feared all-out war in Somalia may hamper emergency relief efforts for nearly one million desperate Somalis hit by devastating floods in the lawless African nation, UN officials said Friday.

As the toll from nearly a month of flooding hit 89, they warned that conflict between Somalia's powerful Islamist movement and weak Ethiopian-backed government, now on the brink of war, would derail critical aid operations.

Of particular concern, they said, are airlift deliveries of badly needed supplies of food, water and shelter material, required because the waters have cut off access to many of the worst-affected areas.

Despite security assurances for such flights from the Islamists and the government officials, they said they feared even a small incident could disrupt the entire effort.

"The helicopters might be shot at by the warring sides," said Eric Laroche, head of the Kenya-based UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Somalia.

"The worst thing about shooting at helicopters is that the whole operation would stop even if the plane is not hit," he told reporters in Nairobi. "That is a disaster that we want to avoid."

He also lamented Thursday's announcement by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that Addis Ababa had completed preparations for war with the Islamists, whom it says threaten it and the internationally recognized government.

"In fact, that is bad timing," Laroche said, noting that Meles made his comments just as the relief effort for flood-battered Somalia was hitting full stride with the hiring of four helicopters to distribute aid.

The Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June and now control much of southern Somalia, are girding for battle with government forces and Ethiopian troops outside the government's seat of Baidoa, fuelling fears of full-scale war.

Since October, unsually heavy seasonal rains have flooded Somalia's Shabelle and Juba rivers, killing at least 89 people, displacing at least 300,000 others and cutting a swathe of destruction along its path.

With cases of cholera confirmed, humanitarian workers and the weak transitional government have warned of a catastrophe in the affected regions where resident are clinging on trees and eating wild food if aid is delayed.

The United Nations appealed for 15 million dollars (11.5 million dollars) for its Somalia operations, but warned that amount might increase in the coming days as torrential rains continue to pound Somalia.

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