One person has died in Gahunga Sector of Burera District due to floods that were caused by heavy rain on Thursday, which also damaged infrastructure and people’s properties, including over 230 hectares of crop plantations.

According to district officials, floods from volcanoes have destroyed one major bridge on the road linking Burera and Musanze districts and damaged plantations of potatoes, maize, beans, pyrethrum.

Other damages include eight residential houses.

The district has yet to estimate the monetary value of the damages.

"We are now working with people and other stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Emergency Management and Rwanda Water Resources Board, to find ways the damages can be compensated as well as fix the bridge which has collapsed,” Marie Chantal Uwanyirigira, Mayor of Burera District, told The New Times on Friday. 

Burera is located in a region prone to seasonal floods due to uncontrollable streams of water from the volcanoes.

During rainy seasons, the streams flood gullies (locally known as imyuzi), leading to loss of lives and damaging infrastructure and people’s properties. Burera District has 11 such gullies.

Uwanyirigira said Gahunga Sector has one of the most dangerous gullies.

Solution to floods from volcanoes

Since December 2019, a flood management project has been building retaining walls and water ponds along the gullies.

By 2024, the Rwf35 billion project is expected to solve the problem of seasonal flooding in four districts in the volcanoes region (Burera, Musanze, Nyabihu and Rubavu), according to Rwanda Water Resources Board, one the implementers.

"The project started in Burera and Musanze which have the most critical gullies. Currently, the implementation of is about 40 percent,” said Davis Bugingo, Division Manager in charge of flood management at Rwanda Water Resources Board.

In Rwanda, the maximum rainfall in a year occurs during the main rainy season, which starts from March to May.

Recently, Rwanda Meteorology Agency forecasted an above normal rainfall in May. Burera, Musanze, Nyabihu and Rubavu are among districts which will have the highest amount of rainfall.