At least 26 people died in a series of flooding and landslide events across northern Rwanda on Wednesday 6 April 2020. The majority of the deaths were caused by two landslides, one in Gakenke District, which caused several houses to collapse, killing eight people and injuring dozens more, and one in Nyabihu District which claimed another five lives. The incidents happened following about 48 hours of heavy rain in the area. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess
pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments,
allowing them to flow like liquids. Elsewhere in Gakenke District four people are reported to have drowned when a river burst its banks. The flooding has also affected several other districts, with many hundreds of people made homeless across the country.
A house damaged by a landslide in Rwanda on Wednesday 6 May 2020. BBC.
Rwanda has a wet montane climate, with a long rainy season which lasts from mis-September to mid-May, with two peaks in rainfall in October-November and March to April. Such a double Rainy Season is common
close
to the equator, where the Sun is highest overhead around the equinoxes
and lowest on the horizons around the solstices, making the solstices
the coolest part of the year and the equinoxes the hottest. Like other areas of East Africa, Rwanda has suffered from exceptionally high levels of rainfall this year, driven by unusually warm weather over the Indian Ocean, which means that much of the ground is now waterlogged, and cannot absorb any more water, with the effect that any further rain is likely to run over the surface leading to flooding.
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