Floods in the eastern Somali region of Ethiopia have killed at least 17 people and displaced more than 100,000 since the start of the month, a government relief agency said Friday.

"The figure we have at the moment indicates that 17 have died and over 100,000 have been left without homes," Guled Ahmed, head of the region's disaster prevention agency, told AFP.

"The floods occurred in the first two weeks of this month. The Wabi Shebelle and Genale rivers burst their banks and engulfed three zones in the region," he said, adding that relief operations were underway in the affected areas.

Ethiopia, home to 80 million people, is regularly hit by floods and droughts and is currently experiencing what the UN and other relief organisations have described as a critical humanitarian situation.