Floods leave 19,000 homeless

Floods have left at least 19,000 people homeless and submerged 998 houses in Tanzania's northern Kilimanjaro region following a heavy downpour, officials said on Monday.

The Moshi District commissioner, James Ole Mililya, said the floods also swept away hundreds of livestock and led to the collapse of 11 homes.

"The dead animals included two cows, 14 goats, nine sheep and over 100 chicken," Mililya said. "At least 1,459 hectares of crops were also destroyed by floods."

Moshi Regional Commissioner Mohammed Babu said the government had sent relief food and non-food aid to the affected villages, with a promise of further support.

Tanzania's vice-president, Ali Mohammed Shein, visited the villages on Saturday and promised that the government would provide tents for the homeless and medical care, in addition to the relief food.

Recurrent annual flooding in parts of the country pose the threat of water contamination, which can lead to outbreaks of waterborne diseases, such as cholera.

In April 2005, rainfall, described at the heaviest in 40 years, destroyed homes and infrastructure in Stone Town, capital of Tanzania's semiautonomous island of Zanzibar. During the same period, another 800 homes were affected by flooding on the island.