Heavy rain causes deadly floods in Kinshasa

Officials have warned: Initial assessments of flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, are only provisional.

A new assessment by Congolese National Radio Television (RTNC) is still tentative “A Hundred Dead”. An earlier report by police in the DRC’s capital said at least 55 people had died.

The flood caused significant physical damage, flooding major streets in the center of the megalopolis of about 15 million inhabitants in the early hours of the morning. According to General Kasongo, victims are counted in different districts and communes of the city, especially in the valleys where houses were destroyed by landslides.

Nine members of the same family, including a toddler, were among the dead when their house collapsed in the Binza Delvaux district of Kinshasa’s Ngalima commune.

“the wall is broken”

“We woke up at 4am to water entering the house”A relative of the family testified. “We channeled the water, thinking there was no more danger we went back home to sleep and we got soaked”, he added. The family went back to sleep Soon after, the wall collapsed.

Heavy overnight rain brought Congo’s capital to a standstill. In particular, it caused landslides in a peripheral district, cutting off National Highway 1 heading west.

“In landslides, residences washed away”Prime Minister Jean-Michel Zama Lukonde told reporters at the scene “Twenty Dead”. “Searching the Ruins” Keep going, he said.

National Highway 1, essential for supplying the city, connects the capital to the Matadi River port between Kinshasa and the Atlantic Ocean. The collapse of the roadway occurred in the mountainous commune of Mont-Nagafula, where rains cause frequent landslides and rampant urbanisation.

“Backfilling work has already started”, said the Prime Minister. He is of the opinion that small vehicles can be on the road within twenty-four hours. For trucks, you need “Civil engineering works may take three to four days”He calculated.

Earlier in November 2019

In town, small rivers, canals and sewers overflowed and flooded streets, including in La Gombe, one of the city-province’s twenty-four municipalities, usually the most spared of the daily hassles of Kinshasa’s people. Like lack of electricity, accumulation of garbage and repeated floods. The district is home to ministries and embassies.

In November 2019, about 40 people died in Kinshasa after torrential rains caused floods and landslides. Mont-Nagafula was one of the most affected communes.

In November, At least twenty people were killed Landslides and floods following heavy rains in Masisi Territory (North Kivu) in eastern DRC.