AN EXPECTANT mother and two children have drowned in separate incidents in Rukwa Region as heavy rains continue to pound the region and neighbouring areas.
Rukwa Regional Commissioner (RC) Mr Joachim Wangabo briefed reporters over the weekend, saying an expectant mother and her six-year child drowned while attempting to cross flooding Kalambo River in Kalambo District on Friday.
According to the regional commissioner, a twelveyear old pupil, who was in Standard Four in Nkasi District, died while attempting to cross the flooded area.
Mr Wangabo said the heavy rainfall which lasted for several hours on Friday caused enormous damage to the transport infrastructure as it swept away bridges that link Kasansa and Kilyamatundu villages along the Rukwa Rift Valley Basin in Sumbawanga District Council.
As result, Rukwa Region has been cut off from neighbouring regions of Songwe and Katavi due to damage of the road network failure.
Plus, dozens of bridges on the road section along the Rukwa Rift Valley Basin in Sumbawanga District Council that links villages of Muze, Kifinga, Lwanji and Msia have been swept away by floods.
It was reported that the disaster has caused havoc to the citizens who are residing in 13 wards along the valley basin, as many of them have failed to transport their produce, including rice, to the neighbouring regions.
Rukwa Regional Commissioner (RC) Joachim Wangabo who visited the affected areas prohibited people from crossing over flooded areas, including rivers.
The RC also called on the Regional Tanroads manager, Engineer Masuka Mkina, to immediately asses the affected road network infrastructures so that the government, through the regional road agency can establish the magnitude of the problem and how to tackle it.
On his part, Eng Mkina told the RC that the agency had already solicited funds from the government in efforts to hasten emergency execution of the affected road network infrastructures.
A cross section of citizens interviewed by the ‘africa-press’ called on the government to speed up the restoration of the badly damaged road infrastructures.
Sections of the affected road spanning to 178 kilometers that links villages of Kasansa and Kilyamatundu along the Lake Rukwa basin in Sumbawanga District Council is an aerial link between Rukwa Region and neighbouring Katavi and Songwe regions.
