Capital City Cut Off By Torrential Rains

The highway from Ethiopia’s capital to ports in neighboring Eritrea and Djibouti has been swamped by an overflowing lake following torrential rains, according to news reports Saturday.

Ethiopia News Agency said about 500 trucks, buses and fuel tankers have been stranded since Friday on either side of a submerged section of highway, about 155 miles northeast of Addis Ababa.

The 545-mile road goes to the Eritrean port of Assab on the Red Sea and also branches off to Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden.