At least 57 people have been killed in landslides caused by torrential rains in northern Tanzania, according to a new report released on Monday December 4 by the authorities who fear there may be more victims.
Since Saturday, the rains have been sweeping through the town of Katesh in northern Tanzania, some 300 kilometers north of the capital Dodoma, feeding thick mudslides that have swept away dozens of vehicles and homes.
“We have so far lost 57 of our brothers and sisters in this disaster, and 85 are still being treated,” said President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who cut short her visit to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference. The previous death toll, given on Sunday December 3, was 47.
Search and rescue operations were still underway on Monday with the help of the army to find people who may have been buried by the mud, said the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, visiting Katesh.
Images broadcast by local TV channels showed streets littered with the debris of houses, while traffic and power supplies were disrupted. A hundred houses were swallowed by the mudflows, said a regional official, Queen Sendiga. “More remains” are being removed from the rubble, said Jenista Mhagama, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office, without giving further details.
East Africa has been hit for weeks by torrential rains and flooding linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has displaced over a million people in Somalia and left over 300 dead in the region. El Niño, generally associated with rising temperatures, droughts in some parts of the world, and heavy rains in others, is set to continue until April.