As authorities looked for survivors trapped in their homes, the state-run broadcaster reported on Wednesday that at least 109 people had died as a result of heavy rain that caused flooding and landslides in western and northern Rwanda.
A video clip uploaded by the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency showed houses being demolished and muddy water flowing quickly down a road that had been flooded.
According to François Habitegeko, governor of Rwanda’s Western Province, “our main priority right now is to reach every house that has been damaged to ensure we can rescue any person who may be trapped.”
According to him, 95 people had died in the province. The Northern Province was a second region that was included in the 109 fatalities reported by the state broadcaster.
Habitegeko stated that some persons had been saved and transferred to a hospital, but he did not specify how many.
According to him, the districts with the highest death tolls in the Western Province were Rutsiro (26), Nyabihu (19), Rubavu (18), and Ngororero (18).
Habitegeko reported that the River Sebeya has breached its banks at around 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.
He claimed that because of the preceding days’ worth of rain, “the soil was already soaked, causing landslides that closed roads.”
Rainfall in the East African country is expected to be above average in May, according to the Rwanda Meteorology Agency.
Six people perished overnight into Wednesday in a part of the southwest Kisoro district in neighboring Uganda, close to the Rwandan border, after the mountainous area was battered by torrential rains, according to the Uganda Red Cross.
According to a statement from the Red Cross, five of the dead are members of one family, and rescue teams have started digging up the bodies to extract them.
In recent days, landslides have been recorded in other elevated places, like Kasese near the Rwenzori mountains, where deluges and floods wrecked homes and displaced hundreds. Since late March, Uganda has also been suffering strong and persistent rains.
