Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Flooding In Africa.

Photo

Aerial view of the floods effecting the Katawki district of eastern Uganda, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. Across Africa, torrential downpours and flash floods have submerged whole towns and washed away bridges, farms and schools. More than a million people across at least 17 countries have been affected by the rains since the summer, according to the United Nations. At least 200 people have been killed, and hundreds of thousands are displaced. (AP Photo/Katy Pownall)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070919/481/5d1a4ab735034b34973835b8357d1599

Severe floods hit 17 countries in Africa

By KATY POWNALL, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 19, 3:26 PM ET

SOROTI, Uganda - Fish swam alongside the dugout canoes residents were using to flee their flooded homes, riding the water gushing through the streets of this town in eastern Uganda.

Other affected countries include Somalia, which is struggling to quell an insurgency and to recover from a seemingly endless cycle of drought and flood.

Interior Minister Mohamed Mohamud Guled said this week that southern Somalia faced a "humanitarian catastrophe," because rivers had burst their banks, flooding farms and destroying crops. The rivers began flooding in late August following heavy rains in neighboring Ethiopia, he said.

On the other side of the continent, Ghana has also been heavily hit. Three regions in the north, the country's traditional breadbasket, have been declared an official disaster zone after whole towns and villages were submerged. Torrential rains between July and August killed at least 32 people and displaced a quarter of a million, the U.N. said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070919/ap_on_re_af/africa_floods_1;_ylt=AmuxAUGlCUIb9ihSRhXchFTlWMcF



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