Reuters reported citing Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa’s comments broadcast on television that the number of injured stood at 116 people. Landslides had destroyed half of one village he visited, he said.
“We are here in front of bodies of our fellows. We have lost 63 loved ones. Of the total fellows we lost, 23 are men and 40 are women,” he said during an event to bid farewell to the bodies of those who had died in Hanang district, northern Tanzania.
Severe flooding caused by the El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole weather phenomena has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Tanzania since the rains began.
The flooding comes on the back of the worst drought to hit the region in 40 years. Dry soils are less able to absorb water, increasing the risk of flash flooding.
Queen Sendiga, commissioner of the Northern Manyara region, told reporters late on Sunday that authorities were still searching for bodies trapped in the mud.
Around 100 houses in the village of Katesh, Hanang district, were swallowed by a landslide, Sendiga said, adding that they did not know the whereabouts of people from 28 households.
Climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events, according to climate scientists.
In neighboring Kenya, where floods have so far killed at least 154 people, the banks of the Voi River in the country’s south burst on Monday, the Kenya Red Cross said.
AMK/PR
