The lack of adequate conveying infrastructures and road crossing structures has led to flooding that continues to affect the Northern Province, according to the Rwanda Water Resources Board.

Over the past five years, the Province has experienced at least 1,500 disaster cases, mainly floods and landslides, which have resulted in over 200 fatalities and damaged over 5,000 homes, according to the report released by the ministry in charge of emergency management last week.

Floods have also destroyed four health centres, 16 churches, nine administrative offices, and 64 water supply systems, among other infrastructure. In addition, more than 3,000 hectares of crops have been washed away, and over 100 cows and 4,000 small livestock have died.

A week ago, floods from volcanoes caused disasters that damaged hundreds of hectares of crops and destroyed houses, blocking some roads. Davis Bugingo, the Division Manager of Flood Management and Water Storage Development at Rwanda Water Resources Board, attributed the flooding to high rainfall in the Volcano Mountains.

He said that Burera district was the most affected district within the study area, mostly because few interventions have been made to address flooding from the volcano region.

Bugingo suggested that different measures could be implemented to minimize flooding in the area. These include attenuating the water upstream in both retention and detention ponds, elevating gully banks to control overflow, stabilizing gully banks with natural-based solutions, and providing crossing structures such as culverts or bridges where the gully crosses the road.

Out of a total of 19 main gullies identified in the volcano area, five critical gullies are being completed, three in Musanze (Susa, Muhe, and Cyuve-Cyabirengo streams), and two in Burera (Muhabura-Mbandana and Nyarubande Upstream). Additionally, two gullies, Nyabutoshwa upstream and Nyabyungo downstream, are under construction.

Bugingo further said that the gullies have already been identified and prioritized based on risk analysis done, and the implementation of flood mitigation solutions depends on the available government budget.

Due to the urgency of the problem, the Board sought external funding to mitigate flood issues in the volcano area as soon as possible.

Currently, damages from floods have considerably diminished in all constructed gullies on Muhe, Susa, Cyuve-Cyabirengo, Muhabura-Mbandana, and Nyarubande upstreams, and all protected schools and health centres in Burera and Musanze Districts are safe from flooding, even though the area received heavy rainfall.

In 2019, a Rwf39 billion project was revealed to contain flooding from Volcanoes, but the problems caused by floods are yet to be fully addressed.