ADDIS ABABA, 27 August 2008 (IRIN) - Flash floods following torrential rains in Ethiopia's Gambella regional state have spread to four woredas [districts] and displaced thousands more people, an official in the area said.

"The number of displaced people has reached 20,000," Akway Ojulu, the team leader of Gambella's Disaster Prevention and Food Security Department, told IRIN on 27 August.

"We temporarily need two million Birr worth of relief aid," he said. "[But] when we release our official appeal on Friday [August 29], the amount will increase."

Four rivers have burst their banks in the region since heavy rains started a week ago.

Akway said the number of displaced people had increased after two additional woredas, Abobo and Akobo, were flooded. The flash floods hit Lare and Itang woredas a week ago following three consecutive days of heavy rain, which caused the overflow of Jikaw and Nyandiere rivers in Lare and Pukong River in Itang.

"We have already distributed blended food to 2,000 people in Itang and 4,000 in Lare," Akway said.

Abobo was flooded after two hours of rain on 21 August, displacing 761 people while 7,000 others were displaced from Akobo.

"Most of the displaced people sheltered in schools," Akway told IRIN after visiting the two woredas using motorboats.

Three boats, he added, had been obtained by his department - each with a capacity of four to six quintals - but one had an engine problem.

"We need additional motorboats to reach the displaced people," he said. "They need food, household utensils and drugs for themselves and their livestock. To bring a motorboat to Akobo only costs 300,000 Birr [US $31,250], including transportation."

Gambella has been repeatedly hit by flooding from the rivers that drain into the region from the western highlands of Ethiopia. In 2007, flooding left 135,000 people displaced.

Recent rains have also affected other regions. According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), flooding has also been reported in Amhara, Oromia and Tigray regions.

At least 3,700 people in the East Shewa zone of Oromiya have reportedly been displaced by floods, OCHA reported on 26 August.

Heavy rains and hailstorms had also damaged crops in South Gonder in Amhara and East Harerghe in Oromiya, and the southern parts of Tigray.

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