At least 38 people have died with 82 others been injured in heavy rains and floods in Tanzania’s northwest, officials said Wednesday. Torrential rains, hail and high winds hit Kahama district in Shinyanga region late on Tuesday, a statement from the office of President Jakaya Kikwete said, expressing his “shock and extreme grief”.
Officials said an estimated 3,500 people in the region, a poor farming area south of Lake Victoria and near the Serengeti game reserve, had been affected by the flooding.
many people had no chance of escaping, senior police officer Justus Kamugisha said.
The rains have severely damaged mud houses and blocked roads, making rescue operations difficult, he added.
The BBC's Hassan Mhelela in Tanzania says most people in Shinyanga make their living by subsistence farming.
But the weather has wreaked havoc on the landscape and crops of maize and cotton have been destroyed and livestock killed as well, he says.
0 comments:
Post a Comment