Heavy rain - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

DR Congo landslide kills at least 12, more than 50 still missing

AT least 12 people were killed and more than 50 are still missing after heavy rain caused a ravine to collapse onto a river in the southwest Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official and a civil society leader said. The landslide occurred around midday on Saturday in Dibaya Lubwe commune in Kwilu province. It sent a cascade of clay and debris down to the banks of the Kasai River, where a boat was docking and people were washing clothes. Interim provincial governor Felicien Kiway said 12 bodies had been pulled from the rubble so far, including nine women, three…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Floods kill more than 20 people in northern Tanzania

NEWS

AT least 20 people have been killed by floods after heavy rain in the Manyara region of northern Tanzania, the Ministry of Health said. Severe flooding caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon has killed hundreds of people in Kenya and Somalia in recent weeks. The rains have also left a trail of destruction, ruining infrastructure like roads and submerging towns in East Africa, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. "We are very shocked by this event," President Samia Suluhu Hassan said in a video message posted online by the Tanzanian Ministry of Health. She directed security agencies, the Ministry…

May

2023

By PHILBERT GIRINEMA

Heavy rain, floods kill at least 136 in Rwanda and Uganda

NEWS

FLOODING and landslides triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 129 people in Rwanda and six in Uganda, authorities said, as rescuers hunted survivors trapped in homes. In chaotic scenes after weeks of rain in the region, one video clip posted by the state-owned Rwanda Broadcasting Agency showed muddy water gushing down an inundated road and destroying houses. "We woke up at 2 a.m and heard people screaming," Angelique Nibagwire, 47, said from Karongi district in western Rwanda where at least 16 people died. Another resident in the area, Nyandwi Emmanuel, said three relatives died after a house he…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

SA floods “a teachable moment”

ENVIRONMENT

KIM HARRISBERG AS downpours swamped South Africa's third-largest city this week, residents lucky enough to still have internet access and power shared harrowing videos of highways turned into rivers, collapsed buildings and flood-capsized cars. The deluge has killed more than 300 people in KwaZulu-Natal province, and with more heavy rain expected on the weekend residents and experts questioned whether the city had prepared sufficiently for worsening weather extremes. "We don't have the government's attention," complained Siya Gumede, 26, outside his home in Shakaskraal township north of Durban - a home now with only walls after a neighbouring church collapsed onto…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Heavy rain in India triggers floods, landslides; at least 125 dead

WORLD

RAJENDRA JADHAV and MANJO KUMAR RESCUE teams in India struggled through thick sludge and debris on Saturday to reach dozens of submerged homes as the death toll from landslides and accidents caused by torrential monsoon rain rose to 125. Maharashtra state is being hit by the heaviest rain in July in four decades, experts say. Downpours lasting several days have severely affected the lives of hundreds of thousands, while major rivers are in danger of bursting their banks. In Taliye, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of the financial capital of Mumbai, the death toll rose to 42 with the…