140 killed by heavy rains in DR Congo

KINSHASA — More than 140 people were killed on Tuesday as the worst floods in years battered the Democratic Republic of the Congo's capital Kinshasa following an all-night downpour, authorities said in a provisional assessment.

Major roads in the center of Kinshasa, a city of nearly 15 million people, were submerged for hours, and a key supply route was cut off.

According to a statement from the Kinshasa Provincial Ministry of Public Health, the heavy rains caused the deaths of 141 people, while 38,787 households had been flooded and about 280 houses collapsed.

President Felix Tshisekedi on Tuesday blamed climate change for the disaster, saying the flooding was "further evidence of the challenges we are facing with climate and something we need to work on together".

The government has announced three days of national mourning beginning on Wednesday, according to a statement from Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde's office.

City police chief General Sylvano Kasongo said the bulk of people dead were on hillside locations where there had been landslides.

Population influx

Located on the Congo River, Kinshasa has seen a huge population influx in recent years.

Many dwellings are shanty houses built on flood-prone slopes, and the city suffers from inadequate drainage and sewage.

A major landslide occurred in the hilly district of Mont-Ngafula, smothering National Highway 1, a key supply route linking the capital with Matadi, a port further down the Congo River and a crucial outlet to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lukonde told reporters at the scene that about 20 people there had died when "homes were swept away". Searches are continuing for survivors.

The highway should be reopened to small vehicles within the next day, but it could take "three or four days" for trucks, the prime minister said.

The streets of the upmarket Gombe district — home to government buildings and usually spared the problems affecting other areas of Kinshasa such as inadequate waste disposal and power supplies — were also inundated.

In November 2019, around 40 people in Kinshasa died in floods and landslides.

Mont-Ngafula was one of the worst-hit areas, but a local said the flooding this time was even worse.

"We've never seen a flood here on this scale. I was asleep and I could feel water in the house. ... It's a disaster and we've lost all our possessions in the house, nothing could be saved," said Blanchard Mvubu, who lives in the Mont-Ngafula neighborhood of CPA Mushie.

"People are building big houses and that blocks up the drains. The water can't move freely and that's what causes the floods."

Agencies - Xinhua