Nearly 70 dead after floods in southern Somalia

Torrential rain and floods have left nearly 70 people dead in the Qoryoole area of southern Somalia, Somali pro-Husayn Muhammad Aydid radio reported on Sunday.

Two local leaders belonging to the United Somali Congress told the Somali National News Agency that floods had swept away 64 villages in the district.

Sixteen people had drowned and 53 others had died of waterborne diseases.

Nearly 3,000 head of livestock had also perished.

The local leaders said dysentery and malaria had broken out in the region and appealed for emergency assistance for flood victims, the radio reported.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.