Days of continuous heavy rain in Ethiopia resulted in massive flooding that has killed at least 626 people on Thursday, with the death toll expected to rise sharply.
“Things are getting out of control,” said Inspector Daniel Gezahenge, a spokesman for the southern regional police, according to The Associated Press. “We need additional helicopters and boats for rescuing.”
Southern Ethiopia has a reported 364 death toll with police saying it could reach 1,000 while another 256 were killed in the east and six in the north, reported AP.
Although at least 300 people are still missing in the east, police have said they are halting their search in the region and continuing search and rescue efforts in the south, the U.N. reported.
Gezahenge said the water level is rising along River Kibish, near the Omo Valley in the south, where as many as 10,000 people are stranded, according to AP.
Flooding has created islands where thousands are trapped waiting for urgent rescue. According to Christian Aid, the stranded flood victims have little shelter or food and are vulnerable to attack from crocodiles.
“The floods are happening downstream,” explains Abiy Hailu, Christian Aid’s country representative in Ethiopia in a report released Wednesday. “These areas are generally remote and the infrastructure is poorly developed.”
The banks of two of Ethiopia’s largest rivers – the Awash river in the east and the Omo river in the south – burst open and swept away homes, livestock, and everything owned by thousands of people living along their banks reported Christian Aid.
“The current situation is very different from what we are used to in Ethiopia,” commented Christian Aid’s Ethiopia representative. “We are used to dealing with drought – the problem of floods is new.”
According to Abnezer Ngowi, the U.N. World Food Program’s acting country director in Ethiopia, the floods are an “unprecedented disaster” in the country.
“We are appealing to aid agencies and the international community for medical supplies, food, clean water, blankets and anything that can help," Inspector Gezahenge said. "There are dead bodies and animals in the water making the likelihood for a disease outbreak very high."
Fear is high that a cholera outbreak will occur among survivors. The disease is spread through contaminated water, poor hygiene, overcrowding and bad sanitation.
Christian Aid is working with local organisations in the area to assess the situation and is planning to organise emergency relief items such as plastic sheeting, cooking utensils, mosquito nets and high protein food to people displaced by the floods.
More heavy rain is expected in the coming days, prompting officials to announce flood warnings for the country’s longest river, the Awash, which stretches 746 miles.