Heavy rains that have been pounding several parts of Rwanda have killed at least 18 people this week, the government said.
The East African country, dubbed the land of a thousand hills, has recently been affected by landslides as a result of the heavy downpours, flattening houses on mountain slopes.
“Eighteen people passed on due to disasters caused by heavy rains in the night of 23rd April,” Rwanda’s ministry in charge of disaster management said on Twitter.
The minister said seven people died in the country’s north, eight in the capital Kigali and three in Gatsibo in the east, with 79 houses and 56 hectares of crops destroyed.
The ministry said it was still assessing the extent of damage from the heavy rain.
The Rwandan government has in the past urged its citizens living on mountain slopes to relocate to areas less prone to disasters.
Monday’s toll follows the deaths of 51 people in heavy rains and lightning between January and mid-April, the ministry said. That toll included 16 people who died when lightning struck a church in March.
