The death toll from flash floods in eastern Ethiopia has risen to at least 190, including 39 children, an official said yesterday.

Floods tore through the eastern town of Dire Dawa early Sunday, displacing as many as 10,000 people in and around the town, said Sisay Tadesse, spokesman of the government’s Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency.

Heavy rains in Dire Dawa, nearly 200 miles east of the capital, Addis Ababa, swelled nearby rivers beyond their banks, Sisay said. A team has been sent to the town to assess the situation, he said. Electricity and telephone outages in the town have made it difficult to get information.

“I saw dead people filling Dilchora Hospital this morning, with family members crying,” resident Mimi Woigido said when reached by phone Sunday from Dire Dawa. The hospital is the main medical facility in the town.

Local radio stations reported that witnesses and residents said more than 200 homes were destroyed by the floods. Radio stations also reported that area highways were cut off.

Torrential rains in April 2005 caused massive flooding in parts of eastern Ethiopia, killing more than 150 people and leaving thousands homeless. Flooding killed 32 people in Dire Dawa in May 2005.