Hundreds stranded by flooding in Tanzania

AllAfrica.com via the Tanzania Daily News: Hundreds of passengers travelling upcountry were still stranded at the Ubungo Bus Terminal in Dar es Salaam yesterday following the weekend downpour that washed away bridges, literary cutting off the country's commercial capital from other parts of the country.

Major bridges connecting the city and the regions cr
umbled under the pressure of the rains, which also flooded roads and villages. They include the Ruvu Bridge along the Morogoro- Dar es Salaam Highway, Mpiji Bridge along the Dar es Salaam- Bagamoyo Road as well as Mzinga Bridge that connects Dar es Salaam and the southern regions of Lindi and Mtwara and some parts of Coast region.

The Director-General of Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), Dr Agnes Kijazi, said the rains will continue although not in the same degree of ferocity as those witnessed over the weekend. "Our earlier caution for heavy rains ends today (yesterday) but we are still working around the clock to examine the situation," the TMA boss said.

According to the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Saidi Meck Sadiki, as of yesterday 13 people were confirmed dead as a result of the floods caused by the rains....

An aerial view of Dar es Salaam, shot by Sizwally, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license