This United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) picture shows Somali refugees displaced by floods crossing a swollen river in Dadaab, Kenya. Raging flood waters have killed at least nine people as a third week of heavy rains pounded southern Somalia, bringing the death toll to at least 89.(AFP/UNHCR/File/Brendan Bannon)

Floods kill nine in Somalia, death toll climbs to 89

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Raging flood waters killed at least nine people, including five sleeping children, overnight as a third week of heavy rains pounded southern Somalia, bringing the death toll to at least 89.

And with no end in sight to unusually heavy seasonal rains that have brought misery to a country already on the brink of war, UN officials said conflict could badly hurt emergency relief efforts for nearly a million Somalis.

The children were killed when their homes in villages near the provincial town of Jowhar, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Mogadishu, were washed away by waters from rivers that burst their banks, local officials said.

"Five children died after heavy floods swept their homes away while they were sleeping," said Ibrahim Nur Osman, the security commander for Somalia's powerful Islamist movement in Middle Shabelle region where Jowhar is situated.

Meanwhile, rescuers recovered the bodies of four people buried in the mud around Mustaqbal village in Lower Shabelle region, where tens of thousands are facing acute food shortages.

"Four bodies, one of them an elderly woman, have been discovered dead around Mustaqbal in the mud," said Garad Abukar Mohamed, the secretary for the local Islamic administration.

"The water level is rising all the time and thousands of people are trapped in flood-hit areas that nobody can reach," he told AFP, adding that the death toll would likely rise as food stocks had been destroyed.

Scores of survivors were clinging to trees, grieving for the loss of their loved ones and property as well as trying to avoid being eaten by crocodiles unleashed by the flooding of the Shabelle and Jubba rivers, residents said.

At least 13 of the flood fatalities are known to have been devoured by the crocodiles, which have been on a feeding frenzy in Beledweyne, further north of Jowhar, according to locals.

"Casualties are increasing day-by-day," Osman told AFP. "People are getting killed, others injured, while others are being evacuated. Everybody is grieving from treetops where they have escaped."

The village of Bulo-Warey, where the children died overnight Thursday, was completely inundated, with the surviving residents fleeing as best they could, an official said.

"I tell you that none of the affected people is in the village because the whole place is covered by water," said Osman Adan Ibrahim, a local Islamist representative.

The floods have compounded difficulties for Somalis already on edge fearing an outbreak of all-out war between the Islamists and the country's weak Ethiopian-backed government that many believe could spark a regional conflict.

Despite assurances from the rival sides that airlifts of relief supplies -- necessary because most land routes have been cut -- will be safe in the event of war, UN officials said they feared fighting would derail aid operations.

"That is a disaster and we want to avoid it," Eric Laroche, head of the Kenya-based UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Somalia, told reporters in Nairobi.

OCHA appealed for 15 million dollars (11.5 million dollars) for its urgent Somali operations, but warned that amount might increase in the coming days as torrential rains continue to pound Somalia.

Nearly one million Somalis are estimated to be affected by the flooding, of which at least 336,000 have been forced from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Health officials have also sounded the alarm for outbreaks of waterborne diseases, particularly cholera, which has already been confirmed in two areas.

The rains have destroyed farmlands, disrupted food supplies, cut off villages and washed away roads, complicating the delivery of aid to the most vulnerable and impoverished in remote areas.

200 dead or missing in Afghan floods

KABUL, Afghanistan - Heavy rain again battered remote villages in western Afghanistan already devastated by flooding, as the death toll rose to 120, officials said Monday.

Aid workers delivered several tons of food and aid to people in Badghis province, said Habibullah Murghabi, the head of a government-appointed disaster committee. The delivery had taken more than two days of travel by donkey and horse to reach flood-affected villages in the mountainous region.

Two NATO helicopters also delivered 17,600 pounds of food and medicine to Badghis.

Murghabi said the death toll in Balamurghab and Ghormach districts had risen to 62, while 92 people were reported missing.

"The roads are still bad, and last night there was heavy rain again. It's still raining now," Murghabi said by telephone from Badghis.

Heavy rain Thursday triggered flash floods that inundated several villages in Badghis. Some 50,000 families live in the inundated area.

Other affected areas in the west include Farah province, where at least 18 people have died in recent days, said provincial police chief Gen. Sayed Aga Saqib. One village of eight houses had been washed away, he said.

Floods also hit the southern province of Uruzgan over the weekend, killing 40 people and destroying hundreds of homes in four districts, said Qayum Qayumi, the governor's spokesman.

Two-thirds of China cities face water shortages

BEIJING, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Two-thirds of Chinese cities face water shortages, state media reported on Friday, one of the top problems facing the rapidly urbanising landscape.

More than 400 cities had water shortages, with 100 of them "in serious trouble", lacking enough water to support industry or daily life, the China Daily quoted an unamed official from the Ministry of Water Resources as saying.

The problem was compounded by pollution, with 45 billion tonnes of untreated waste water pumped directly into lakes and rivers, the report said.

Per capita water resources in the world's most populous country are less than a third of the global average, and falling.

The government also predicts 400 million rural residents will move into China's cities in the next 20 years, and the rapid urbanisation is expected to put a further strain on resources.

Already, water levels in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China's longest, have hit a historic low, and the country is considering massive engineering schemes to divert water to the parched north of the country.

Snowflakes spotted in Central Florida
Rare sight comes with cold temperatures across state

ORLANDO, Fla. - Snowbirds come to the Sunshine State to escape them, but weather officials said a few snowflakes were spotted in Central Florida.

The flakes, mixed with rain, fell about 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Snow shovels were not needed, but some of the white stuff did hit the ground before melting, weather-service meteorologist John Pendergrast said.

"It's just cold enough in the lower levels of the atmosphere" to keep the flakes from melting, Pendergrast said.

The last time the region saw snow was in 2003, when flakes fell over Brevard and Volusia counties.

Temperatures in the area Tuesday night dipped to the low 40s, and were expected to fall to the 30s, Pendergrast said.

Wind chills may drop into the 20s in parts of north Florida and high temperatures may only reach the 60s as far south as the Keys on Wednesday, state meteorologist Ben Nelson said.

Miami wasn't expected to even hit 70 on Wednesday, and low temperatures were expected to dive into the mid-40s.

A developing storm out at sea off of Florida's east coast is driving cold air southward into the state, which resulted in freeze watches for several locations in the Panhandle earlier this week. Residents were being reminded to protect themselves, their plants, their pets and their pipes.

The cold weather is expected to last through Thanksgiving, but by the end of the week warmer temperatures were forecast to return. By Sunday, the high in Miami is expected to be 81.