Tanzanian president orders emergency response to cyclone-hit areas

DODOMA, May 6 -- Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ordered authorities to take emergency response in areas affected by tropical cyclone Hidaya, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Monday.
   Majaliwa announced the presidential order at an emergency meeting that reviewed the devastation caused by the tropical cyclone on Mafia Island in the coast region, Kilwa district in Lindi region and Ifakara in Morogoro region, said a statement by the Prime Minister's Office issued in the capital Dodoma.
   "The president has ordered that swift action should be taken, including sending relief supplies, to victims of the tropical cyclone," he said.
   On Sunday, Joseph Mwasabeja, the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force commander for the Lindi region, said that flash floods triggered by heavy overnight rain from tropical cyclone Hidaya, which had weakened after making landfall on Mafia Island earlier on Saturday, washed away four bridges.
   The highway was shut down after the bridges were washed away, Mwasabeja told Xinhua.
   Mohamed Nyundo, the Kilwa district commissioner, said that the floods also submerged several houses in seven villages, displacing scores of villagers and damaging hundreds of hectares of farm crops.