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Ethiopia rains will continue to mid October

Meanwhile Reuters Monday quoted Ethiopia's meteorological agency as saying rains that caused rivers to burst their banks in southern Ethiopia, killing hundreds and uprooting tens of thousands, will continue to mid-October.

"Under normal circumstances, rains in the Omo Valley and other lowland areas of the country will continue until mid-October," said the agency's director general Kidane Asefa.

The flash floods that began earlier this month have killed some 900 people and displaced about 48,000. The United Nations has warned many of the homeless are now at risk from disease.

While the southern lowlands would continue to be swamped by downpours, Kidane said heavy rains in Ethiopia's northeastern highlands were expected to reduce by early September.

"Within the next 10 days the rains are expected to move southward and Lake Tana and its environs in northeast Ethiopia, threatened by flood ... will turn to normal," he added.

He blamed the recent floods on the short April-May rains running into the main rainy season, which began in June.

"The two seasons were combined creating a long rainy season which caused rivers to overflow their banks," Kidane said.

On Monday, the U.N. said acute diarrhoea had killed 150 people and infected nearly 12,000 others. It said water-borne diseases were spreading at an alarming rate.

Navy Seabees from the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion, assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa set up tents to house approximatley 6,000 displaced victims of a devastating flood that hit Dire Dawa, Ethiopia on 06 August. The death toll from flash floods in Ethiopia rose after police reported an unknown number of bodies had been found in the country's southwest, where 364 deaths have already been confirmed.(AFP/US Navy/Robert Palomares)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Ethiopia began releasing water from dams taxed by two weeks of heavy rain to prevent them from bursting as the death toll from devastating floods climbed, state media said Tuesday.

Officials said they were releasing water from the dams in the central, southern and eastern parts of the country as a precautionary measure to prevent them from overflowing or bursting and causing uncontrolled flooding, according to the report.

Meanwhile, officials issued fresh flood alerts in southern, northern and western Ethiopia as more bodies were recovered in the south, where the Omo River burst its banks on Aug. 13.

He said 1,300 people have been rescued by boat or helicopter in the south but he did not know the number of new bodies that had been recovered by rescuers.

Meanwhile, U.S. Navy U.S. Navy personnel began relief operations in Dire Dawa, 310 miles east of Addis Ababa, where the first flash floods ripped through the town on Aug. 6, killing 256 and leaving 300 missing and feared dead.

Waterborne diseases have compounded the rescue efforts, with 150 people having died countrywide from acute diarrhea and nearly 12,000 infected, the U.N. sa

Officials said they were releasing water from the dams in the central, southern and eastern parts of the country as a precautionary measure to prevent them from overflowing or bursting and causing uncontrolled flooding, according to the report.

Meanwhile, officials issued fresh flood alerts in southern, northern and western Ethiopia as more bodies were recovered in the south, where the Omo River burst its banks on Aug. 13.

He said 1,300 people have been rescued by boat or helicopter in the south but he did not know the number of new bodies that had been recovered by rescuers.

Meanwhile, U.S. Navy U.S. Navy personnel began relief operations in Dire Dawa, 310 miles east of Addis Ababa, where the first flash floods ripped through the town on Aug. 6, killing 256 and leaving 300 missing and feared dead.

Waterborne diseases have compounded the rescue efforts, with 150 people having died countrywide from acute diarrhea and nearly 12,000 infected, the U.N. sa