Flooding displaces thousands in Beletweyne

Flooding in the Hiiran region of south-central Somalia has displaced thousands of families and inundated many hectares of farmland in and around Beletweyne, the regional capital, sources in the affected region said.

A local journalist, Abdullahi Muhammad Salat, told IRIN on Thursday that the Shabelle River burst its banks and flooded the town, which is 350 km northwest of Mogadishu, and "a dozen villages" nearby.

The floods had "displaced around 5,000 families in and around Beletweyne" and destroyed 2,500 ha of farmland in the Hiiraan region.