At least 109 people have died in flooding in northern and western Rwanda, the state-run Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) said, quoting figures from local authorities.

"The rain that fell last night caused disaster in the Northern and Western Provinces," RBA said on its website.

It said 95 people had perished in the hardest hit Western Province and another 14 in Northern Province, adding that the floodwaters had swept away homes and infrastructure and led to road closures.

Images broadcast on RBA's Twitter account showed houses destroyed, roads cut off by landslides and flooded fields.

"Relief efforts began immediately, including helping to bury victims of the disaster and providing supplies to those whose homes were destroyed," the minister in charge of emergency management, Marie Solange Kayisire, told RBA.

In May 2020, at least 65 people died in Rwanda as heavy rains pounded East Africa, causing at least 194 deaths in Kenya.