BUJUMBURA / GITEGA, March 19th (ABP) – 15 people were injured, while several houses, public infrastructures and fields were damaged on Sunday following heavy rain and strong wind that hit some localities of Bujumbura province (west), Cankuzo (east) and Gitega (center) on Sunday; this was disclosed on Monday by the Director General of the civil protection police, police commissioner Antoine Ntemako and the head of Nyabututsi quarter, Mr. Apollinaire Manirakiza.
In Bujumbura province, the localities that have been more affected are, among others, the headquarters of Isare commune, where the roof of the office of the provincial director of education (DPE) and that of six classrooms have been washed away by wind and other infrastructures in the Nyarumpaga, Nyarukere, Kwigere and Rushubi villages. The National Directorate of the Civil Protection Police also notes the roof of the Pentecostal church of Cirisha in which 15 people were injured. In the same province, the Director General of the civil protection police also deplores 15 houses and six classrooms demolished in the Mutambu and Kanyosha communes and whose roofs were damaged as well as several fields destroyed by heavy rain mixed with hail in Mukike and Mugongomanga communes.
The General Directorate of the Civil Protection Police also notes nine classrooms in Kigamba commune of Cankuzo province and four houses whose roofs were also washed away by torrential rain.
In Gitega, rain mixed with hail and strong wind hit the Nyabututsi neighborhood and the surrounding villages of the Gitega rural zone on Sunday between 1 pm and 2 pm, causing damage to plantations, according to the head of the Nyabututsi neighborhood, Mr. Apollinaire Manirakiza. He said the damaged crops included beans, avocados, banana and marrows. He also reported the case of a single house whose roof was washed away. On the other hand, rain that has fallen abundantly in recent times holed the roads, which becomes difficult for vehicles to pass through. That issue is acute in almost every neighborhood of the Gitega urban center. Faced with that situation, the communal administrator of Gitega tranquilizes the people, arguing that the paving of fifteen linear kilometers is expected later this year. “The company that will do this work is already known and has already done its feasibility studies,” adding that the paving is also planned to further sanitize, the Gitega town, which recently became the political capital of the country.
