Rains displace thousands, destroy crops and cemetery

Floods have killed nine people, displaced thousands others and destroyed a cemetery in Burundi's northwestern province of Bubanza, following a week of heavy rainfall that caused two rivers to burst their banks. The government and the United Nations Mission in the country, known as ONUB, have started to provide to help the affected families and to divert the floodwaters back to the riverbeds. "Nothing was saved in my house, not even a single dish," Frederic Ngendakumana, a resident of the commune of Gihanga, said on Tuesday. Local officials in Gihanga said the most affected areas were the Imbo lowlands where several hectares of crops remain flooded after the Mpanda and Kajeke rivers burst their banks. Livestock and other domestic animals also perished in the floods, they said. "It is still difficult to estimate the damage as many of the devastated areas remain inaccessible," Samson Gahungu, the private secretary of Gihanga administrator, said on Monday. Gihanga administrative officials said the number of destroyed homes was about 240, but that this figure was provisional as they were yet to assess the whole commune. At the same time, heavy rains have destroyed areas at least 20 km from the boundary of Bujumbura airport in the capital, towards the northwestern province of Cibitoke. The rains waters also destroyed graves, unearthing bodies at Mpanda cemetery. "It is a great shock for the population here to see corpses floating on the flood waters," Immaculée Nahayo, the speaker of the National Assembly, said on Monday. "We are making contact with relief organisations so that they help us rebury the corpses with honour." Following the flooding, government and UN officials have visited Gihanga to assess the relief aid needed. Since last week, ONUB has been engaged in diverting the floodwaters back to the riverbeds. It has also helped to rebury some of corpses unearthed in the cemetery. President Pierre Nkurunziza visited the commune on Tuesday. The ministers for national solidarity and health have also visited the area. Nkurunziza said the government was assessing the relief needs in order to help the distressed residents. "The government is committed, through the ministers of Public Works, Environment, and Interior, to help the victims of the disaster by making a plan of channelling the flood waters to avoid similar damage," he said. The acting special representative of the UN secretary-general, Nureldin Satti, said on Tuesday that ONUB had already started work to manage the situation at Mpanda cemetery. "We are going to continue the works in collaboration with the ministries of interior ministry, public works, the civil protection and other institutions of the country by mobilising means to counter such a catastrophe," Satti said. According to an official of the team protecting civilians against catastrophes, Boniface Barukinamwo, the floodwaters that had flowed to the cemetery had been diverted with the help of various organisations. In a move to protect the health of the affected residents, the Environment Ministry carried an announcement on national radio on Wednesday urging them not to drink the water of the two rivers and that of Lake Tanganyika, into which they flow. It said the rotting corpses unearthed by the floods could have polluted the water. The heavy rains have also destroyed the road network in other parts of the country. The southern part of the country is now cut off after sections of the road linking Bujumbura to the region were destroyed. Landslides, especially in the mountainous areas of the province of Bujumbura Rural, which surrounds Bujumbura, have blocked some roads.