Torrential rains in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed about 30 people in the capital Kinshasa and caused destruction in the metropolis, authorities reported today, quoted by the agencies.
After the rain did not stop falling on Friday and yesterday, the incoming waters flooded several poor suburbs of the metropolis with a population of about 17 million people. Some people had to move through the streets in canoes, BTA specifies.
"There are many injured who have been evacuated. The death toll has now been confirmed at 30," Kinshasa provincial health minister Patrician Gongo Abakazi told news agencies.
Some of the victims drowned, while others died when the walls of their homes collapsed, he added.
The rising waters have paralyzed much of the haphazardly built-up capital. Traffic on National Road 1, the main artery between the center and the airport, has been halted. Kilometer-long traffic jams have formed in the city, which is already suffering from congested traffic.
"Around 2:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. Bulgarian time), we suddenly saw that the water was rising and (its level) was getting higher and higher. "So we took the children and decided to run, but it was difficult to get out," said a resident of the eastern urban commune of "Masina".
In another eastern district, "Dobonom", the waters swept away dozens of cars, forcing people to swim or travel by canoe, AFP journalists saw.
Some residents expressed strong dissatisfaction with the authorities' actions to reporters.
The neighboring province of Central Congo was also affected by the disaster.
Floods with fatal consequences are common in Kinshasa. The city is located on the Congo River - the second longest in Africa after the Nile, the AP notes.
Due to poor maintenance and an inadequate sewage system in many neighborhoods, sewage pipes often become clogged with garbage. The most at risk from flooding are people living in shacks and neighborhoods with unpaved streets.
In 2022, the bodies of at least 122 people killed in landslides and floods caused by torrential rains were found in the capital of DR Congo, the AP recalls.