タンガニーカ湖の水位が上昇し

　―周辺の村落を飲み込み、相当数の避難民を発生させているのだそう。

BBC Burundi floods: Lake Tanganyika's water levels rise 20 Sep 2021

　ここ数年で10万人規模とのこと。

「Natural disasters have forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes in Burundi in recent years, the Save the Children charity says.

Most of them had lived on the shores of Lake Tanganyika where water levels had risen because of heavy storms, causing floods and landslides.」

　夜中、寝ていてふと目覚めたら、自宅が水没しつつあるのに気づいた―という。水害の基本的パターンでは、まああるにせよ。

「People described waking up at night to find their homes and farms swallowed by the lake, the world's second-deepest.」

　問題は、これが世界最長の湖と言われるくらいに大きな湖だということですかね。海抜772.7mから776.4mにまで水位が上昇した―というから、3.7mですか。周辺の農地をどれほど飲み込んだことか。

「It is the longest fresh water lake in the world. Its water levels rose to 776.4 metres (2,547.2ft) above sea level in April compared with the normal average of 772.7 metres.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.」

　地球規模の環境変動で、ここでは多雨がすぎて湖の水位上昇に至ったのだろう、と。

「A 17-year-old told Save the Children that she and her family had lost their home when Lake Tanganyika broke its banks last year.

"It was during the night... I was sleeping and I woke up and the water was in the house. The house was destroyed a short time after we left it," she said.」

　気候変動の説の可否はともかく、この地ではやたらに雨が降る傾向が強まったわけだろう。避難も長期化しているようだし早急に対応がなされればよいなあ、と。