At least 63 people have been killed in landslides triggered by torrential rains in northern Tanzania, according to the latest toll released by authorities today, who fear more casualties.

The rains that have been sweeping the city of Kates in northern Tanzania since Saturday, almost 300 km north of the capital Dodoma, reinforced thick layers of mud that washed away dozens of vehicles and homes.

“We have so far lost 63 of our brothers and sisters in this disaster and 85 are still receiving treatment,” said President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who hastened her trip to Dubai where she had gone to attend COP28, the UN conference on climate.

The previous toll announced earlier today was 57 dead and yesterday, Sunday, it was 47.

Search and rescue operations are underway today with the help of the military to locate people who may have been engulfed by the mud, said Prime Minister Kassim Majaliua, during his visit to Kates.

Images broadcast by local television networks showed roads littered with debris or houses in ruins, while there were many problems with traffic and electricity distribution.

Rivers of mud swallowed a hundred homes, said county commissioner Cuthbert Sendiga.

“More bodies” are being pulled from the ruins, Genista Magama, an official in the prime minister’s office, said without giving further details.

East Africa has been battered for weeks by torrential rains and floods linked to the El Niño phenomenon, which have displaced more than a million people in Somalia and killed more than 300 people in the region.

El Nino, which is generally associated with rising temperatures, droughts in some parts of the world and heavy rains in others, is expected to extend into April.

This weather phenomenon has already caused destruction in East Africa. From October 1997 to January 1998, massive floods fueled by torrential rains caused by El Niño killed more than 6,000 people in five countries in the region.