"At least 4,500 houses have collapsed, more than 2,000 plots of land have disappeared, and more than 7,000 households have been affected by overflowing rivers and the rising waters of Lake Tanganyika," Dominique Kalonzo, head of communications at Uvira town hall, told AFP.

Kalonzo added that 53 schools had been flooded in the eastern city of Uvira, according to a town hall report drawn up earlier this week.

"Those affected have been taken in by families, while others are spending the night under the stars," added Kalonzo.

"The Uvira town council has launched an urgent appeal to the Congolese government and humanitarian organisations, because Uvira is at risk of being hit by epidemics."

For weeks, torrential rains have been hitting the north shore of Lake Tanganyika in the South Kivu region, which borders Burundi's flood-hit economic capital, Bujumbura. Lake Tanganyika is Africa's second largest lake.

"It is a really worrying situation, even national road five on the Uvira-Fizi section is flooded," Santos Kitandala, a civil society activist from Fizi, told AFP.

"A large market, the Mwemezi market, has been swallowed up, as have several administrative offices."

The floods are also affecting the town of Kalemie, further south.

Beyond the DRC, East Africa is experiencing torrential rains that killed at least 58 people in Tanzania during the first fortnight of April and 13 others in Kenya.

Rains have been virtually uninterrupted in Burundi, one of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Its usual two rainy seasons run from September to January, and March to May.