DAR ES SALAAM, 27 December (IRIN) - Some 650 flood-affected Tanzanians are in need of urgent aid, officials said on Wednesday.

The victims have been cut off from the rest of the country after floods destroyed bridges on roads connecting their communities in the central region of Shinyanga.

"They need food, medicine, blankets and other relief supplies," Shing'wela Limbakise, the executive director of Kishapu district in the region, told IRIN. "You can only reach these people by helicopter."

He said the worst-affected villages were Ilebelebe and Ilindilo in Shinyanga, which were totally cut off by the floodwaters after heavy rains pounded the area over the past four days.

Limbakise said the two villages were among five hit by floods in November in which one person died and 1,500 others were displaced.

Heavy rains have pounded several parts of Tanzania in the past week, amid fears that the hurricane christened "Bondo", which reportedly hit Madagascar on Monday, was approaching Tanzania.

However, Mohammed Mhita, an official from the Tanzania Meteorological Authority said on Wednesday that Hurricane Bondo had weakened, but cautioned that another unnamed storm was gathering off the northeast of the Indian Ocean island.

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IRIN news

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