Burundi urges international support to deal with floods aftermath
The small African nation of Burundi is appealing for aid to help address the havoc left by floods that affected hundreds of thousands.
The Burundi government estimates the floods have affected 203,944 people, with 19,250 homes and 209 classrooms destroyed.
The number of people internally displaced by flooding rose by 25%, reaching over 98,000, according to Violet Kenyana Kakyomya, the U.N. resident coordinator in Burundi.
Landlocked Burundi has an agriculture-dependent population of about 13 million, the bulk of which is poor, according to the World Bank.
The floods are part of extreme weather conditions triggered by climate change, with Burundi becoming the latest country to bear the brunt of El Niño weather phenomenon.
Similar storms killed 35 people in neighboring Kenya, destroying homes, farms, and livestock.
In December, heavy rainfalls forced millions of people in East Africa to abandon their houses. There were more than 200 casualties so far.
