ADDIS ABABA (AFP) -- At least 72 people were killed and dozens injured overnight in eastern Ethiopia by raging floods following torrential rains that pounded the region, medical officials and witnesses said Sunday.

Medical officials said they had received at least 72 bodies from villages, which were inundated in the country's Dire Dawa region, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of the capital, Addis Ababa.

"We have now received some 72 bodies and 50 other people injured, and we are expecting more," a doctor told AFP by phone on condition of anonymity.

They said rescue workers were scouring villages in search of survivors and bodies.

Residents said the casualties of the floods, which are a result of the current rain season, were mainly women and children.

Witnesses said the floods destroyed more than 100 houses, markets and shops, and washed away livestock and vehicles. However it was not clear yet the extent of damage from one of the worst floods that has hit the region.

Last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 260,000 displaced when heavy rains pounded the same region, which lies close to the Ethiopia's Somali state.