DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – At least 20 people have been killed by floods after heavy rain in the Manyara region of northern Tanzania, the ministry of health said on Sunday.
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 of health and other relevant bodies to put in all efforts into ongoing search and rescue efforts to prevent more deaths.
The more than 20 people were killed in Katesh village in the Hanang district of Manyara, the president said.
The heavy rain on Saturday night caused landslides in some areas of Mount Hanang, domestic media outlets reported, adding that the waters also swept away livestock.
Climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events, scientists say.
In response, African leaders are pushing for new global taxes and changes to international financial institutions to help fund climate change action.
(Reporting by Nuzulack Dausen; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Alison Williams)
