NAIROBI, 22 November (IRIN) - Humanitarian agencies have stepped up efforts to help an estimated 1.8 million people affected by floods in the Horn of Africa countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia amid fears that more rain could cause additional hardship to residents who have yet to recover from a drought earlier in the year.

Flooding has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in central and southern Somalia after torrential rain swelled rivers, submerging hundreds of villages in a country without any infrastructure after 16 years of civil strife.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which has been conducting an aerial survey of the affected areas, said: "The devastation is massive, with most of the agricultural land under water."

Said Warsame, information officer for WFP's Somalia office, said the loss of crops and the fact that farmers would not be able to plant soon "will have a negative impact on the population's livelihoods and their food security".

The aerial survey along the Juba River in southern Somalia on Tuesday showed that many villages between the towns of Buale and Jilib, in Middle Juba region, had been submerged, displacing 30,000-50,000 people, according to Peter Smerdon, WFP spokesman.

"Food distribution is going slowly because roads are either impassable or have been completely cut off," said Smerdon of the relief effort in Somalia.

Floods had also wreaked havoc in Hiiraan region in central Somalia, aid workers there said.

"Many families have exhausted what little food they had and have not received any food assistance up to now," said Ahmed Abdulle Gure, an official with the Somali Red Crescent Society, which is coordinating the relief efforts in the town of Beletweyne. "So far the displaced have not received any food assistance apart from 600 tonnes provided by Zam Zam [a local NGO]. The situation is getting dire," he added.

Across the border in Kenya, WFP and CARE have stepped up food distribution in the Dadaab refugee camps near the town of Garissa in Northeastern Province. More than 100,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia, have been marooned in their camps amid heavy downpours, Smerdon said. The two agencies had completed general food distribution to 50,000 refugees in Hagadera camp and 37,000 refugees in Dagahaley, he added. Distribution was under way among 54,000 refugees in Ifo camp.

Aid workers had decided to give the refugees weekly rations because of the uncertainty of the weather. More flooding could lead to food losses if the refugees were forced to move again. WFP is expecting a second consignment of 94 tonnes of high energy biscuits within days, to be transported by road to Garissa.

In neighbouring Ethiopia, rainfall is expected to continue to hamper efforts to reach people affected by floods in the southern Somali region, humanitarian agencies said. The Ethiopian government and aid agencies were on Thursday due to launch a flash appeal for resources to respond to the flood crisis, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update on Tuesday.

About 68 people died and thousands fled their homes in the Somali Region after the Wabe Shabelle River burst its banks in early November, washing away livestock and damaging infrastructure, including bridges and roads. The towns of Mustahil and Kelafo, south of Gode, the regional capital, have been worst hit by the floods.

Warsame, who took part in the aerial survey, said the worst affected areas were the Juba Valley, Hiiraan and Shabelle Valley and Gedo regions. "For example, 85 percent of the population in Beletweyne has been displaced," he said.

Most of the affected areas could only be reached by air or boat. Several WFP food convoys were stuck in mud in the Juba Valley, he added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday started airlifting tarpaulins to 324,000 people in some of the worst-affected areas in Juba, Gedo and Hiiraan, as well as Middle and Lower Shabelle in southern Somalia. The agency was also providing drinking water to 45,000 displaced people in Beletweyne area.

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