When the floods from the Awash Rivers came rushing during the night nearly two weeks ago in Asaita, Afar Regional State, Ahmed Abdulkedir and his neighbors did not have time to grab any of their belongings. His cotton fields, ready for harvest after three months of plowing, sowing and irrigating, were completely destroyed. His family's 700 cattle along with his homes and the home of 107 employees who worked on his farm were gone.

Back in June, when the flood water coming from the Awash River had started rising, they had tried to put up barriers to stop the water from ruining their crops. But their soil-filled sacks were no match for the strength of the flood that ended up swallowing 115ha of his farmland.

"We left our lands and cattle behind to save ourselves," he said. "I have a home in the city, but my employees have lost everything, even the clothes on their back."

The water is not just flood water from the river but from the Tendaho Dam, according to Ahmed.

"The water from the Dam is stagnant, so it is infested with worms and has a disgusting smell," he said. "They've opened up the Dam without any preparation and destroyed our homes again."

The Dam has been causing problems since its construction a few years ago, according to Ahmed, who used to live on the farm with his wife.

"The Dam isn't more important than the people who live here," he said. "It's polluting the river, which is where people get their drinking water."

The Tendaho Dam in the Afar Regional State is one of the two dams in the region, alongside Kessem, both built alongside the Awash River. The Dam, built to irrigate the Tendaho Sugar Factory, has been operational since 2014 with a capacity to hold 1.8 billion cubic metres of water.

Releasing water from the dams based on meteorological predictions is a task undertaken by the Basin Development Agency, according to Getachew Gizaw, deputy director-general of the Agency.

"This is one preventive measure we take to avoid floods," he said. "The regional water bureaus have also been working on widening river paths and fixing dikes."

Overfilling of the two dams in the region, Kesem and Tendaho, was not the problem this year, according to him. Instead, the problem was with another tributary river, Logiya, from Southern Wollo. The river had overflown its canals due to unrelenting rainfall, according to him.

"This was especially true in areas like Afanbo Wereda where the canals were narrower," he said.

The Agency is mandated to give warnings when there are flood emergencies in the country and work on the capability of dams to receive water as well ensure the rivers stay within their courses.

Dikes, an emergency response, are damaged easily, according to the deputy director of the Agency, which has allocated 70 million Br this year for flood early response activities in the country.

"There could be crocodiles, falling trees and even people that affect it– it’s hard to continue maintaining," he said.

The focus was on Amibara Wereda, where the flood normally occurs, and where the damage would have been more extensive.

The floods in the region have displaced over 40,000 people and affected close to 70,000 others in one way or another, according to a rapid flood assessment done by UNICEF as well the region's Disaster Prevention & Food Security Coordination statement.

The rainy season, Kiremt, which started in June, is expected to last throughout September.  This year the rains are much heavier and the downpour itself unabating, merging the Belgand Kiremtseasons.

"There was no break between the two rainy seasons," said Negyie Hailu, early warning team leader under the National Disaster & Risk Management Commission, the main body responsible for coordinating disaster response in the country.

"We knew that this was coming, and we had prepared more extensively than before," he said.

The flood alerts sent out in the past couple of months by the Commission recommended working on flood-prone areas like strengthening dikes built along the riverside to help navigate and control the flow of the river water.

If this work had not been done, it would have resulted in a much worse scenario, according to Negyie.

"This was also in preparation to minimise displacement since this year has also brought in the compounded complication of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)," he said.

But Ahmed, who lost his farm and cattle, says that no preparation was done in Asaita Wereda, where they live.

"The authorities sent two excavators and a bulldozer after the rainy season started," he said. "They've been swept away by the flood like everything else."

A helicopter has now been assigned to the area to lift people out who are surrounded by water, taking 50 to 60 people at once in the wereda of Afambo, one of the 19 weredas that have been the worst hit, according to Mohammad Husen, director at the Regional State's Disaster Prevention & Food Security Coordination Office.

Farmlands have been inundated with floods and 10,000 cattle have been lost so far. The one helicopter making rounds is not able to save any cattle, as there are still people waiting to be rescued - an additional 32,000 people still remain at risk. Most have had to relocate to temporary living conditions at six nearby schools for shelter.

The Office has provided support to 27,000 people including rice, edible oil, macaroni and medicine.