Somalia floods:  boat drowned, four missing

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least four people have gone missing when a boat carrying over a dozen capsized in the flood-waters in Baladweyne town, some 330km north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The floods caused by heavy rains on the Shabelle river has submerged in the town after the river burst its bank, a witness says.

He said mayor of the town was rescued.

He added a rescue boat had also overturned.

Deqo Ahmed, a civil society activist who lived in Britain for years, was among 5 people whose boat capsized in the floods.

Somali journalist Sahra Abdi Ahmed says Ahmed and other victims left from the capital, Mogadishu to take part in the rescue mission to help the flooded-hit victims.

The Mogadishu-based government says it has airlifted aid food and medical supplies to the flood-affected people in Baladweyne town, about 330km from the capital of Somalia.

The town has been badly affected by floods caused by the overflowing waters of the river which has left 72 thousands of people homeless, said in a statement released by United Nations.

The UN says thousands of people had moved to safer places from the flood-affected areas of the town in Hiran region of central Somalia.