DADAAB, 21 November (IRIN) - Bad weather is hampering efforts by aid agencies to evacuate tens of thousands of Somali refugees from their flooded camp in a remote region of northeastern Kenya, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), which is airlifting emergency supplies to the rain-drenched Dadaab region, said.

"We are completely cut off from the world because the main road to Garissa has been completely washed out by these floods … and therefore our capacity is very limited," said UNHCR senior emergency officer, Geoff Wordley, as dark rain clouds built up to the north.

Roads between the three camps have also been severely eroded by the fast-flowing floodwaters. Several Red Cross trucks carrying food rations became bogged down in knee-deep mud.

A buffalo cargo plane started shuttle runs between the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and Dadaab on Sunday, delivering 25,000 tarpaulins to help refugees rebuild their shelters, as well as emergency health kits, shovels and fuel. More flights are expected throughout the week.

On Monday, a massive logistical operation got under way to move the 55,000 population of Ifo sub-camp to a site 15 km away, adjacent to Hagadera sub-camp, which is home to more than 50,000 mostly Somali refugees. Those strong enough started walking on their own, many carrying their few possessions on their backs, others by donkey cart.

The new camp is a few metres higher than Ifo camp. Aid workers said the main challenge was to build a camp from scratch with the refugees already onsite.

But Wordley said that despite the huge logistical challenge facing the UN, it was the refugees' welfare that was of paramount importance. "We believe we have to evacuate [Ifo camp] on the basis that if we don't we could be endangering the lives of thousands of refugees," he said.

The UN has ordered vast water-bladders to store fresh drinking water while five boreholes are to be dug over the coming months. "We will need 50 water taps and 1,000 pit-latrines to accommodate this population," said David Magolo, the UNHCR's Hagadera field-officer. Food distribution centres and medical facilities will also need to be constructed.

Many refugees are opting to remain in Ifo, however, because of the absence of immediate services. They hope to re-build their properties despite warnings that more heavy rains will bring further flooding.

Ceynab Barre, 55, said she was willing to move to Hagadera, but not before services were in place. "Our concern is first of all to go to a dry area where there is no water but if the UN is evacuating us to Hagadera we must have our own camp. First of all we need shelter, medicine and food, those are the basic things we need," she insisted outside the UNHCR field office as rain poured down.

Meanwhile, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet chartered by the UN World Food Programme landed in Nairobi on Tuesday, delivering 94 tonnes of high energy biscuits from a depot in Italy for hundreds of thousands of flood victims. A second aircraft loaded with another 94 tonnes of biscuits is expected within days, WFP said.

"The flooding made many roads impassable so some WFP-contracted trucks are stuck in the mud. These biscuits are an immediate response for the worst-hit survivors," Burkard Oberle, WFP's country director in Kenya, said.

WFP has launched a US$11.4 million, three-month regional air operation to provide fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to transport aid workers and humanitarian assistance to more than a million people in flooded areas of Kenya and neighbouring southern Somalia. The UN Central Emergency Response Fund will cover the cost of buying the biscuits and transporting them to Kenya.

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