According to the presidency, at least 127 people perished when floods and landslides overtook numerous sections of Rwanda following torrential rains, destroying homes and cutting off roads.
Images uploaded online by the official broadcaster showed rivers of mud flowing through the streets as residents fled for shelter, some wading through the flood or clambering over collapsed houses’ corrugated iron roofs.
Similar disasters have struck the small African country in the Great Lakes region in the past, but this appears to be the deadliest in several years.
Rwanda’s government said it was establishing homeless shelters in schools and other facilities, but did not specify how many people were displaced.
According to the state-run Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), the majority of the fatalities happened in Western Province, which borders Lake Kivu.
Floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in Rwanda during the first four months of 2018.
Rains and flooding have also hit other countries of East Africa in recent days, including Uganda, where six people have been killed.
