A child was drowned and four children are missing after heavy rain brought flash floods in Goofgaduud-buureey settlement 40 km from Baidoa.
Dahaba Maalim said the flood water poured into her house and washed away her child while sleeping. She was out of the house at the time. One of her other children who was also at home survived.
The Saturday night rain lasted more than 10 hours.
Four children are missing, believed to have been swept away by water.
Radio Ergo’s local reporter said most people live in makeshift houses that cannot withstand the rain and strong winds.
The floods also destroyed Daynunay bridge linking rural villages to Baidoa and beyond to Mogadishu.
Bay regional commissioner Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed said the rain had cut off telecommunications and there was little information coming from remote areas where heavy rains were also reported.
Radio Ergo’s reporter said that heavy rains and floods were reported to have caused damage in a number of villages in Burhakaba and Qansahdhere districts. Farmers in this region use underground food stores, many of which have been destroyed with the crops inside.
