At least 141 people have been killed in flooding and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, over the past 24 hours, according to a new report released by the African country's authorities. Some 280 houses collapsed and 38,787 were flooded, according to the same source.
The office of Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Luconte announced that the N1 motorway linking the capital Kinshasa to the port of Matadi will remain closed for 3-4 days in order to repair the damage caused by the bad weather.
Entire neighbourhoods were submerged in muddy waters in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Among the victims are nine members of the same family, including young children. A French Agency (AFP) journalist saw the bodies lined up after they were pulled from the ruins of a collapsed house.
"Around 4 a.m., we were woken up by the water coming into the house," said a relative of the victims. "After taking out the water, believing there was no more danger, we returned to the house to sleep. We were soaked." Shortly afterwards, however, a wall collapsed, crushing family members."
One of the worst-hit settlements is Mont Engafula. "We have never seen a flood of this magnitude," says AFP journalist Blanchard Emboubou, who lives in the area. But he explains that due to unregulated building, rainwater cannot find a way out to the Congo River, so flooding is frequent in the area. He asks the authorities to intervene and demolish some houses if necessary.
In another neighbourhood of the capital, a teenager offered to carry on his back those who wanted to cross a flooded road for free.
From the scattered fishing villages on the banks of the Congo River, the capital Kinshasa was gradually formed, which over the years grew into a megacity of 15 million inhabitants. The region remains vulnerable to floods and landslides due to unregulated building.
In 2019, about 40 people were killed by floods and landslides caused by torrential rains in Kinshasa.
Πηγή: KYPE
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