(ERGO) – At least 1,000 families have been left without anything after floods from River Shabelle washed away crops on their farms in villages near the town of Mahaday, in southern Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region.
Abdullahi Yussuf Hussein, the chief of Burfule village, six km from Mahaday town, told Radio Ergo that the floods had cut off 43 villages.
“The villagers have been stranded for the last 20 days. The floods destroyed farms and swept away the food stores,” he said.
“People have nothing to eat as everything has been swept away by the floods. We need urgent help to save the lives of these people. The other villagers are in a similar situation so they cannot help one another.”
Madina Da’ud Nur, a farmer, told Radio Ergo that they had not been prepared for the floods. The mother of three boys and five girls fled her home after it was inundated by water.
Their maize, beans, tomatoes, onions, pumpkin, sesame and green peppers were destroyed.
“I was trying my best to get a good harvest this season but the crops were all destroyed, nothing remained,” said Madina, who had invested $500 in the farm. “The water filled the four rooms in our iron sheet house. The water is still flowing day and night. We lived just 15 metres away from the river,” she said.
They have moved out to a piece of higher ground on the other side of the village.
“We don’t know where to get food. We are just fishing and surviving on that,” she said.
The governor of Middle Shabelle region, Ahmed Meyre Makaran, expressed concern that supply routes to the villages were cut off.
He said the movement of people and vehicles between Jowhar and Mogadishu could also be hindered by the floods.
“The residents are in water, everything is submerged. Some of the people are using rafts made from drums and wood to cross the water,” he said.
The villages affected include Hudur-Isse, Shidlo-Bari, Kulmis-weyne, Bayahaw, Tugaray, Boodale, Farbaraki, Bodale, Daymo-same, Hanolay, Sanlow, Dagahow and Kulmis-Yarow.
