August 7, 2006 (AFP) - Flash floods have killed more than 191 people in eastern Ethiopia, sweeping away many of the victims in their sleep, after a heavy downpour caused a river to overflow, police said yesterday.
“The death toll from the flood caused by the overflow in Dire Dawa reached 191 by 8:30pm (1730 GMT),” regional Dire Dawa Police Commissioner Getachew Asres said.
“Thirty nine of the deceased were children under the age of seven,” he added, speaking by phone from the ravaged township, about 500km east of the capital Addis Ababa.
Police said several thousands of people were displaced after the Dire Dawa River, which cuts through the town, broke its banks and swept through homesteads late overnight Saturday, causing damage of unknown value.
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