Torrential rainfall kills scores in Burundi

At least 51 people were killed and more than 100 injured overnight by flooding and landslides caused by torrential rainfall in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, local officials said Monday. The rains, which swept away hundreds of homes and cut off roads and power to city residents, was described by police as being one of the country’s worst natural disasters in recent history.

"The rain that fell in torrents overnight on the capital caused a disaster," Security Minister Gabriel Nizigama told reporters. "We have already found the bodies of 51 people killed when their houses collapsed or were swept away."

Nizigama said burials of the victims would begin Monday because there was not enough space for their bodies in the capital's mortuaries.

He was speaking at a police station in the northern part of Bujumbura, the area hit hardest by landslides and flooding after the rains began lashing the capital late Sunday.

Police said several hundred homes were destroyed and more than 100 people injured in Bujumbura, which lies on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Houses in the poorer parts of town are often built from mud bricks, which offer no resistance to torrents of water and mud.

Nizigama, touring the disaster zone with other ministers, promised food aid to those who lost their homes. He said the government would bear the cost of burying relatives, and would provide new housing.

Agence France-Presse