Addis Abeba — Days of heavy hail and rain in the Wag Hemra Zone of the Amhara Regional State have left at least one person dead and destroyed more than 849 hectares of crops, according to farmers and local officials.
Seyoum Abate, head of the Agriculture Office in Tsagbji Woreda, said the hail- and wind-mixed rains, which struck the area repeatedly for nearly two weeks in late July and early August, caused widespread destruction in four kebeles.
“Crops of sorghum, maize, beans, and barley planted on a total of 849 hectares were destroyed, affecting 4,588 households who are now at risk of hunger and hardship,” he told Addis Standard.
Some 19 homes were completely destroyed while eight goats and nine oxen were swept away by floodwaters. The Wag Hemra woreda is already battered in recent years by war.
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It is also prone to repeated drought, and landslides, is now appealing for urgent relief.
“We had some grain in reserve at the woreda level, which we distributed to the community, but it is not sufficient,” Seyoum said. “This is a natural disaster, and we couldn’t cope, so we have reported it to the zone’s disaster prevention office.”
A resident of Kebele 10 in Tsagbji Woreda, who requested anonymity, confirmed to Addis Standard that the rain destroyed crops on both his one-hectare farm and an additional hectare he rented. “I have two goats. I sold one of them to buy some grain. My plan is to sell the other tomorrow to buy more. We are in a lot of trouble, and we are appealing to the government,” he said.
Kebele 10 chairman, Birhanu Tadesse, confirmed that the kebele was “completely damaged” by the storm. He said 673 households were severely affected and 66 hectares of maize, beans, sorghum, and wheat were wiped out. “The community is in distress. No support has reached us from the zone yet,” he told Addis Standard.
In Gazgibla Woreda, also in the Wag Hemra Zone, Asefa Birhanu, head of the early warning and response team at the local Agriculture Office, reported extensive destruction caused by rains since early August.
According to him, 4,532 hectares of farmland were damaged: 2,575 hectares by floods, 1,775 hectares by hail, 166 hectares by crop disease, and 15.5 hectares by pests. Nearly 14,900 households were affected.
The disaster also killed 10 sheep, 34 goats, three donkeys, and 10 oxen, while lightning strikes killed four cattle. One person drowned in floodwaters. Infrastructure losses included 24 classrooms, one farmer training center, and 21 private homes.
Officials from the zone’s communication office confirmed the scale of the disaster and urged both governmental and non-governmental organizations to extend immediate assistance to affected communities.
Communities in the Wag Hemra Zone were already faced with a severe humanitarian crisis that left them struggle to recover from a combination of health crises and food shortages in the last few years.
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