The death toll from the flooding in northern Tanzania after the heavy downpour this weekend has risen to 63.
This report was according to the prime minister’s statement on Monday. This recent number has been added to the hundreds of other deaths caused by extreme weather in East Africa since seasonal rains began in October.
The number of injured people stands at 116 and landslides have destroyed half of the one village the Prime Minister visited.
Earlier today, President Samia Suluhu Hassan had given the casualty number as 57 and those injured and getting treatment at 85.
A spokesperson for her office, Zuhura Yunus had said the floods and landslides had affected 1,150 households with 750 acres of farmland being destroyed.
The flooding is comes on the heels of the worst drought to hit the region in 40 years. The greatly dried soils are less likely to absorb water, heightening the risk of flash-flooding.
About 100 houses in the village of Katesh, Hanang district, were inundated by a landslide and at present, the whereabouts of people from 28 households are still unknown.
Television footage has displayed streets now turned into fast-flowing rivers of mud transporting debris past submerged houses.
To battle this, African leaders are pushing for new intercontinental taxes and changes to international financial institutes to help finance climate change action.
