At least 63 people have died in landslides caused by heavy rains in northern Tanzania, according to a new report released Monday by authorities fearing more casualties.
• Also read: Floods in Somalia: More than a million people displaced
An earlier report reported 57 deaths.
These rains have been lashing the town of Katesh in northern Tanzania, about 300 kilometers north of the capital Dodoma, since Saturday, causing thick mudslides that have washed away dozens of vehicles and houses.
“We lost 63 (people), including 23 men and 40 women,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said during a visit to Katesh.
“We believe there are more bodies to be recovered,” he said, adding that another 116 people were injured.
Search and rescue operations with the help of the army were still underway on Monday to find people who may have been buried in the mud.
Screenshot | Portal
Images broadcast by local television channels showed streets littered with various debris from houses, while traffic and power distribution were disrupted.
Paschal Paulo, a resident of the area, told AFP that the floods had washed away everything in the market where he worked. Another, also employed there, James Gabriel, said he was looking for his loved ones and was “scared.”
About a hundred houses were swallowed by the waves of mud, said regional official Queen Sendiga.
East Africa has been hit for weeks by heavy rains and floods linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has displaced more than a million people in Somalia and claimed more than 300 lives in the region.
El Niño, which typically involves rising temperatures, droughts in some parts of the world and heavy rains in others, is expected to last until April.
This meteorological phenomenon has already caused devastating damage in East Africa. From October 1997 to January 1998, gigantic floods caused by heavy rains killed more than 6,000 people in five countries in the region.