• by IPS Correspondents (nairobi)
• Tuesday, November 22, 1994
• Inter Press Service

NAIROBI, Nov 22 (IPS) - TORRENTIAL RAINS FOLLOWING SATURDAY'S CYCLONE BROUGHT THE DEATH TOLL TO 58 PEOPLE AND LEFT THOUSANDS HOMELESS IN AFRICA'S HORN COUNTRIES OF SOMALIA AND DJIBOUTI.

AT LEAST 20 PEOPLE WERE KILLED SUNDAY AND MONDAY WHEN RAINS LASHED THE SMALL RED SEA NATION OF DJIBOUTI, SAID A 'RADIO DJIBOUTI' BROADCAST TUESDAY.

ACCORDING TO THE BROADCAST, NINE PEOPLE ARE STILL MISSING IN THE HARD-HIT SOUTHERN HOL-HOL REGION, WHERE SOME 1,500 SOMALI REFUGEES WERE FLOODED OUT OF THEIR HOMES.

THE RADIO SAID HOUMBOULI RIVER BURST ITS BANKS EARLY ON MONDAY, FLOODING DJIBOUTI CITY AND CAUSING UNTOLD DAMAGE. RESCUE OPERATIONS ARE UNDERWAY AND AUTHORITIES HAVE LAUNCHED AN EMERGENCY PLAN WITH THE HELP OF A FRENCH ARMY UNIT AND VARIOUS HUMANITARIAN ORGANISATIONS.

EAST OF DJIBOUTI ON THE RED SEA COAST, NORTHEASTERN SOMALIA REVISED ITS DEATH TOLL TO 38 KILLED IN THE CYCLONE, AN INCREASE OF EIGHT SINCE MONDAY.

UN OPERATION IN SOMALIA (UNOSOM) OFFICIALS FLEW TO THE REGION MONDAY TO COORDINATE EMERGENCY RELIEF EFFORTS AFTER THE CYCLONE DEVASTATION .

HEAVY RAINS CONTINUED MONDAY, FURTHER RAVAGING HOMES AND WASHING OUT ROADS NEAR BOSASSO, THE MAIN TOWN IN THE ADEN COAST GULF REGION WHERE THE CYCLONE HIT SATURDAY.

THOUSANDS OF LIVESTOCK ANIMALS WERE ALSO KILLED AND MUCH OF THE AREA WAS UNDER WATER A METER HIGH. UN OFFICIALS FEARED AN OUTBREAK OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.

UN SPOKESMAN GEORGE BENNETT SAID THAT A UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICER HAD BEEN SENT TO BOSASSO TO COORDINATE RELIEF EFFORTS.

HE SAID URGENTLY NEEDED RELIEF GOODS, INCLUDING FOOD AND SANITATION EQUIPMENT, WOULD BE FLOWN TO THE AREA QUICKLY.

THE STORM, ACCOMPANIED BY WINDS WITH SPEEDS OF UP TO 104 KM PER HOUR, WAS MOVING INTO THE SPARSELY-POPULATED INTERIOR.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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