(Incorporates EASTAFRICA-FLOODS) By Jeremy Clarke NAIROBI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Floods from torrential rains have killed at least 41 more people, displaced thousands, and devastated crops and livestock across sub-Saharan Africa, officials said on Friday. Often prone to drought, East and West Africa also frequently suffer floods in August and September, the end of the rainy season. In the worst-hit nations in East Africa, 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 problems, 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. Meanwhile the United Nations said severe floods across West Africa had affected 500,000 people in 12 countries, wiping out crops and homes there as well. Outbreaks of water-borne diseases and swarms of crop-eating locusts are feared, the latter in both Mali and Niger, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "Conditions are ripe for an infestation," OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told a news briefing in Geneva. The affected countries are Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. About half of those affected live in Ghana, OCHA said. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said earlier this month at least 87 people had been killed in flooding in West Africa, mostly in Nigeria, in the past two months. HOMELESS In Ethiopia in East Africa, "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 U.N. 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. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Friday appealed for nearly $800,000 to help flood victims in Ethiopia who have lost crops and livestock. 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, Arthur Asiimwe in Kigali, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva)
