KIGALI (TIP): At least 115 people have died as floods and mudslides swept through northern and western Rwanda after torrential rains, the state-run broadcaster said May 3, warning that the toll could rise.
“The rain that fell last night caused disaster in the Northern and Western Provinces,” the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) said on its website. “Currently, the provisional figures published by the administration of these provinces say that 115 people have been declared dead.”
Images on RBA’s Twitter account showed houses engulfed in rivers of mud, roads cut off by landslides, and flooded fields. The broadcaster said the floodwaters were still rising, “causing a threat to more lives.”
Most of the deaths occurred in Western Province which borders Lake Kivu, it said, adding that the floodwaters had swept away homes and infrastructure and led to road closures.
“I was at home with my children but we escaped successfully before it collapsed,” said Jane Munyemana, a resident in the town of Rubavu in Western Province. “We plan to remove the floodwaters and sleep in it tonight but we are worried that it may rain again and destroy whatever is remaining,” she told AFP. Other parts of East Africa have been battered by rains and flooding, including Uganda where six people have been reported dead.
“Relief efforts began immediately, including helping to bury victims of the disaster and providing supplies to those whose homes were destroyed,” Rwanda’s minister in charge of emergency management, Marie Solange Kayisire, told RBA. “Relief efforts began immediately, including helping to bury victims of the disaster and providing supplies to those whose homes were destroyed,” Rwanda’s minister in charge of emergency management, Marie Solange Kayisire, told RBA.(AFP)