Rwanda: heavy rains kill 55

Fifty-five people have died in Rwanda this week when heavy rains caused floods and landslides, the governmental authorities declared.

The East African nation has in recent weeks experienced major downpours that have led to landslides that flattened houses on mountain slopes.

“Heavy rains across the country overnight caused a lot of damage. On Thursday, 55 people had been counted as dead due to landslides and floods,” Rwanda’s Emergency Management ministry posted on Twitter.

The government was still evaluating the losses to help the victims and repair the damaged infrastructures.

In the past, the government has urged Rwandans who live on mountain slopes to move to areas less prone to disasters, as the probability of environmental catastrophes are very high in those areas.

After the catastrophic rains, Wednesday’s toll follows the deaths of eight people on Friday and Saturday, the ministry publicly announced.

Unfortunately, Rwanda’s fate was shared by neighbouring Kenya, where floods and landslides have killed nearly 200 people and displaced 100,000, the government reported on Wednesday too.