MOGADISHU (AFP) – As many as 300
people are feared dead after a
ferocious storm and days of heavy
floods in Somalia's northeastern
Puntland region, the local
government said Wednesday. "Torrential rains, high wind speeds
and flooding has created a state of
emergency, with 300 persons feared
dead, hundreds others unaccounted
for, and countless livestock lost,"
the government of the semi- autonomous region said in a
statement. The death toll could not be
independently verified, but
weather experts from the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) confirmed flooding was
severe. "Given that Puntland is a semi-arid
region, it rarely rains but when it
does, to an extent we have seen…
the impact is devastating," said
Hussein Gadain, a senior FAO
technical advisor. Infamous pirate hotspots such as
the port of Eyl — from where Somali
gunmen have launched attacks far
out into the Indian Ocean — are
some of the worst affected. "Many fishermen are missing and
feared dead, the storm has
destroyed entire villages, homes,
buildings, and boats," the
statement added. Coastal destruction caused by a
2004 tsunami was widely seen as
being one trigger for a surge in
attacks off Somalia, peaking in
January 2011 when the pirates held
736 hostages and 32 boats. However, the rate of attacks has
tumbled in the past two years,
prompted partly by the posting of
armed guards on boats and navy
patrols. Pirates still hold an Omani-flagged
Naham 3 fishing boat offshore, as
well as at least six traditional
wooden Yemeni fishing boats,
although around 90 sailors from
other boats are still held hostage onshore. Puntland's government has
described the situation as a
"disaster", with entire villages
destroyed, and said it was appealing
for emergency international aid. The World Food Programme (WFP)
said it is "working closely" with
local authorities "to assess the
needs in Puntland in the aftermath
of the cyclone." The main tarmac road between
Puntland's capital Garowe and the
key port Bossaso has been cut off by
flood waters, hampering delivering
of relief supplies. "The loaded and ready trucks
cannot deliver supplies by road, as
the heavy rains and flooding have
rendered dirt roads to the coastal
areas impassible," the government
added. Somalia has been riven by civil war
since the collapse of central
government in 1991. Impoverished Puntland, which
forms the tip of the Horn of Africa,
has its own government, although
unlike neighbouring Somaliland, it
has not declared independence from
Somalia.
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