A hundred thousand people have been displaced by the months of rainfall that has hit East Africa. The government and UN have appealed for aid and say nearly three hundred thousand people are in need.

Gitega

Extreme El Nino flooding has wreaked havoc across East Africa, displacing a hundred thousand people due to several months of heavy rainfall. Governments and the United Nations are now calling for international aid, indicating that nearly three hundred thousand individuals have found themselves in dire need of assistance.

In western Burundi, the village of Gatumba has been particularly hard hit, with residences submerged and accessible only by boat. Floodwaters have overwhelmed communities, destroying crops and key infrastructure. One local recounted how their family was forced to construct makeshift shelters on elevated platforms, covered with tarpaulins, as the waters rose around them.

The situation is exacerbated by Lake Tanganyika's overflow, leading to the displacement of vast numbers of people, loss of agricultural produce, and the destruction of critical facilities. Neighboring Tanzania has reported dozens of fatalities, while Kenya has seen the loss of more than 300 livestock in recent days. This climatic upheaval, attributed to the El Nino phenomenon, has brought with it not only increased rainfall but also landslides, hailstorms, and the heightened risk of waterborne diseases.

Residents face not just a lack of housing, but also critical shortages of drinking water, leading to illness from unsanitary conditions. With Burundi's resources stretched thin, authorities are urgently requesting external support to cope with the ongoing disaster, emphasizing the urgent need for humanitarian aid for 300,000 people.



Extreme El Nino flooding hits East Africa

Consistent rains have submerged parts of this church and the entire neighbourhood along with it. These houses of Gatumba in western Burundi can now only be accessed by boat. Floodwaters have cut off this family from the world. The water hit us and we had to look for a place to build a shelter, but we couldn't find anywhere because the water was already everywhere. We came here where there wasn't that much water yet and we built a long platform according to the height of the water and covered it with tarpaulins. Dilfa's village sits near Lake Tanganyika, which has been overflowing. The resulting deluge put nearly 100,000 people on the moon, destroyed crops and critical facilities. Dozens of people have died in neighbouring Tanzania and more than 300 livestock were lost in Kenya in the past several days. It's all due to El Nino, a naturally occurring weather event hitting East Africa, causing months of increased rainfall, landslides and hailstorms, an environment ripe for waterborne diseases. We have a problem not only with housing, but with drinking water too, when we suffer from illness caused by unsanitary conditions. Authorities in Burundi, dealing with limited resources, are now calling for outside help. They say 300,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

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