After intense rain, the number of persons killed by floods and landslides in northern Tanzania has increased to 47, and another 85 people have been wounded, according to a top government official.
Since the seasonal rains started in October, severe flooding brought on by a confluence of El Nino and Indian Ocean dipole weather phenomenon has resulted in hundreds of deaths in Kenya and Somalia and drove hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
Search and rescue operations were underway in the Manyara region as authorities fear some bodies might be trapped in the mud, Manyara region commissioner Queen Sendiga told reporters late on Sunday.
“As of the evening, we have rescued 85 injured persons who are continuing with the treatments and others have been discharged. The death toll has increased to 47 people,” she said.
Around 100 houses in the village of Katesh, Hanang district, were swallowed by a landslide, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said in a video message posted online by the Ministry of health.
“We are very shocked by this event,” Suluhu said.
Climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events, according to climate scientists
