Heavy rains and landslides claim lives of at Least 65 in Tanzania

TANZANIA (SW) – At least 65 people have been killed in landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in northern Tanzania, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Tuesday, revising the death toll of 68 given by regional officials a day earlier.

Torrential downpours over the weekend washed away vehicles and brought down buildings in the hillside town of Katesh, 300km (185 miles) north of the capital, Dodoma.

“Two more bodies were found in the ongoing search and now the death toll has reached 65,” Majaliwa said”, said Majaliwa.

Images broadcast on television showed debris from houses, including furniture, strewn across streets, with key roads, power lines and communication networks disrupted.

Some 5,600 people have been displaced by the landslides, said Mobhare Matinyi, a government spokesperson.

Streets covered in mud following landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in Katesh, Tanzania. [Ebby Shaban/AFP]
The floods are exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region just as it emerges from the worst drought in four decades that left millions hungry. [Filbert Rweyemamu/AFP]
People collect belongings in an area affected by landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in Katesh. [Filbert Rweyemamu/AFP]
Scientists say extreme weather events such as flooding, storms, droughts and wildfires are being made longer, more intense and more frequent by human-induced climate change. [Ebby Shaban/AFP]
Between October 1997 and January 1998, widespread flooding caused more than 6,000 deaths in five countries in the region. [Ebby Shaban/AFP]
Scientists say extreme weather events such as flooding, storms, droughts and wildfires are being made longer, more intense and more frequent by human-induced climate change. [Ebby Shaban/AFP]

A damaged van on a street following landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in Katesh. [Ebby Shaban/AFP]
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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