Hundreds of Rwandans await relocation after village decimated by severe flood

More than 1,000 Rwandans in a single settlement are waiting to be relocated from their condemned homes after a devastating shock flood almost three years ago.

The incident is just one example of the threat posed by climate change in the tropical East African country which has seen extreme weather cause loss of life, critical infrastructure damage and mass displacement.

Residents of a “cell” of around 9,500 people in the east Rwandan district of Rubavu went to sleep on May 2, 2023 amid a downpour that did not seem out of the ordinary towards the end of the wet season.

Therese Mujawamariya told the Press Association: “It was just like any other day when it rained.”

Hours later, however, people awoke to flood water rising through their home in an event that would decimate their community as they knew it.

Ms Mujawamariya said: “Neither me nor my family – nor anyone in this neighbourhood for that matter – knew that such a thing could happen.”

She added: “All we took is our children – and the very moment we stepped out of the house, it collapsed.”

The heavy rain caused the River Sebeya to burst its banks and combine with runoff from surrounding hills to rush into the community, leading to destruction and condemning hundreds of homes.

Irish charity Trocaire worked with local partners in the emergency response to provide essential items, assistance in rental payments, and livelihood recovery programmes.

Rwanda is the focus country of its 2026 Lenten fundraising campaign.

Wider flooding in the country’s western and northern provinces killed more than 130 people, destroyed thousands of homes, swept away crops and damaged bridges, health centres, and power stations.

In the surrounding area, hundreds of homes have been marked with a red X on the front wall – meaning the government has ordered them vacated and demolished as they are unsafe to live in.

Theodeta Mukahategeka’s home collapsed in the flooding and she said people in the area remain in fear over a repeat of the disaster.

She said: “It took away my cows, pigs, and chicken. Nothing I had remained.”

Both women said Trocaire and regional partner Caritas helped them in the aftermath of the flooding – but challenges remain as they cannot afford to send their children to secondary school and their old businesses are gone.

Nearby, Claudine Uwamahirwe and her husband carried their children out of their home as floodwater rapidly rose.

She has had to use sheet metal from the roof of her collapsed home as walls in her current living space.

They are still repaying the bank loan which they used to construct the original home.

Father John Paul Rutakisha, the director of Caritas Nyundo/Gisenyi, said 1,290 of the poorest people in the cell are due to be relocated to a model village being constructed by the government.

“They have lost everything so it is somehow to restart their life after that flooding,” he said.

“But the place where the government is building a village for them will be only for their residence, not for their crops.”

There is also concern that some of the residences in the government village will not be adequate for larger families.

Marie Claire Mukanoheri, who owned a home and store in the area, said all she took from her flooded house was the Bible, before racing to find her pregnant daughter-in-law.

They braced together in flowing floodwater for hours waiting to be rescued.

Standing beside banana trees planted at the site of her destroyed home, Ms Mukanoheri said she is “very hopeful” her sons can return to operating a family business – but they cannot afford to do so as they are renting after the floods.

Fr John Paul said the people being relocated to the government village will continue to need support and the international community should work “hand-in-hand” with those affected.

“We need to focus much more on climate change here, more than other places because we are always facing these calamities,” he said.

“It is a big task we have, but we need also to be assisted so that we can do what we can try to help these people.”