By Jeremy Clarke NAIROBI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Floods from torrential rains have killed at least 41 people, displaced thousands more, and drowned livestock across east Africa, officials said on Friday. Often prone to drought, the region also frequently suffers floods in August and September, the end of the rainy season. In the worst-hit nations, at least 17 people died in Ethiopia in recent days, 15 in Rwanda and nine in Uganda, governments and aid agencies said. Hailstorms and landslides have compounded the problem in some areas, while thousands of families have fled to flimsy shelters, the return to school has been severely disrupted, and the risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera and malaria was growing. In Ethiopia, "the death toll has reached 17 people, while some 4,000 head of livestock have been drowned or washed away, and 34,000 hectares of land has been damaged," the United Nations World Food Programme said in a statement. The floods have affected 183,000 people in north Ethiopia, and displaced 42,000, WFP added. "Food distributions have started to the women, children and men hardest hit by the floods and WFP will work with the concerned authorities to do whatever needs to be done," said WFP Ethiopia country director Mohamed Diab. Rwanda said the floods had killed 15 people and left about 1,000 homeless after downpours since Wednesday in the north. Local Government Minister Protais Musoni told Reuters the Northern Province had also suffered hailstorms and landslides, which had destroyed livestock and property. "We are undertaking some emergency measures, taking those displaced to drier areas and providing them with medical care and food," Musoni added. In Uganda, the floods have killed nine, driven scores from their homes and closed schools, authorities said. State Minister for Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru told Reuters a week of torrential rains had devastated the war-stricken north of the country. "The floods have made an already bad situation worse. The people who had been displaced by insurgency have had their camps swept away by floods," Ecweru said. "Several communities have been cut off and we cannot access them." (Additional reporting by Francis Kwera in Kampala and Arthur Asiimwe in Kigali)
