A total of 47 families in North Western Rwanda Rubavu have been left in the cold after strong winds blew away their roofs earlier this week, a senior administrative official in the region confirmed to APA Sunday in Kigali.
This followed the rains that have hit the region in the past four days, according to Jean Pierre Nizeyimana,the executive secretary of Cyanzarwe sector of Rubavu district.
Initial reports by local administrative officials in the region indicate that at least 35 out of 50 houses had their rooftops partly reaped off while the other remaining were the hardest hit.
According to the ministy in charge of Emergency Management, the families whose houses were severely damaged had been evacuated and the government was working with the the district to help get iron sheets for the 47 houses.
Many household items were destroyed and some residents were forced to seek shelter elsewhere as water filled their houses.
They spent the better part of Saturday morning draining water out their flooded houses and cleaning their homes in the aftermath of the downpour.
Philippe Niyonsenga, one of the affected residents, told APA in a telephone interview that his house was submerged and that most of his vital property was destroyed.
“The water levels were halfway up the sitting room wall. We slept at our neighbours house,” said Niyonsenga.
Rwanda Meteorology Agency has warned that heavy rains could persist up to the end of December, a situation that requires all sectors to adapt to disaster effects that will come as a result.
Humidity in the Indian Ocean continues to increase and trigger heavy rains in the Great East African region, the agency said while stressing that these heavy rains will continue up to the end of December.
CU/abj/APA