District Commissioner appeals for relief supplies, as flash floods kill 13, render 15,000 homeless

Tanzania’s Kilwa district commissioner, Christopher Ngubiagai, on Saturday appealed to individuals, businessmen and organizations to donate relief supplies, including food, water, medicines, tents, blankets, mattresses and clothing to the victims of flash floods which swept 16 villages in Tanzania.

The floods caused by ongoing torrential rains led to the death of 13 persons, rendered over 15,000 residents homeless, destroyed tens of hundreds of hectares of farmland and killed livestock.

“The floods that occurred from Jan. 26 have left people in the 16 villages in devastating shock,” he told Xinhua, adding that the district authorities have created four centers that were sheltering 8,000 people who have been made homeless,” Ngubiagai confirmed.

Ngubiagai said the remaining 7,096 people were being accommodated by relatives and friends.

Kilwa district is said to have a total of 90 villages.

According to him, the Kilwa district authorities were taking inventory of losses in the 16 villages to establish the exact number of houses that have been demolished by the floods, the number of destroyed hectares of farms, the number of killed livestock and damage on the infrastructure, including schools, dispensaries and roads.

The report also quoted Safia Jongo, Mwanza region acting police commander, as informing that the displaced were rescued and moved to safer areas.