DEATH TOLL FROM ETHIOPIAN FLOOD HITS 210

By Tsegaye Tadesse Tue Aug 8, 2:58 PM ET

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian rescue workers dug for a third day through the devastation caused by a weekend flash flood that killed 210 people, searching for as many as 300 others still missing.

Teams of police officers and soldiers using bulldozers and shovels have been clearing piles of mud and sand dumped in the eastern town of Dire Dawa after the Dechatu river burst its banks on Saturday night.

"The death toll from the flood that hit Dire Dawa on Saturday has now reached 210 after more bodies were recovered," police inspector Benyam Fikru told Reuters by telephone from Dire Dawa.

The search teams were spread as far as 35 km (22 miles) downstream from Dire Dawa, located 525 km east of the capital Addis Ababa.

"We have located deep gullies along the course of the river which are filled with sands brought by the flash flood. The rescue teams will dig with the help of bulldozers into the gullies in search of bodies," he said.

Other teams were busy filling sand bags to avert another flash flood, which typically happen after heavy rains in Ethiopia's highlands during the June-August rainy season.

Local businessman Mohamed Nur Ahmed, 40, criticized city officials for failing to build flood defenses earlier.

"This is not the first time Dire Dawa was threatened," he said. "It happened last year and the years before, but not with such ferocious intensity ... I hope now they will take urgent action and build protection."