Heavy rain causes deadly floods in Kinshasa

The authorities had warned: The first assessment of floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was only tentative.

A report, still provisional, sent by the government on the evening of Tuesday 13 December declared that 120 people had been killed. The previous one, reported by the DRC capital police, reported at least 55 deaths.

At the conclusion of a crisis meeting, the government decreed national mourning for three days, starting Wednesday, according to a press release from the services of Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lokonde.

These floods also caused severe material damage and drowned in the early morning the main streets in the center of major cities with a population of about 15 million people. According to General Silvano Kasongo, chief of police in the DRC capital, casualties were counted in different districts and municipalities of the city, mainly in valleys where houses were destroyed by landslides.

“The wall collapsed”

Among the dead were nine members of the same family, including children, who were killed in the collapse of their house in the Penza Delfu district of the Ngalima municipality in Kinshasa.

“Around 4 am we were woken up by water entering the house”A relative of the family testified. “We channeled the water, and we thought there was no more danger, we went home to sleep, we just got soaked.”, he added. The family went back to bed and Immediately after that, the wall collapsed..

Heavy rains at night paralyzed the Congolese capital. In particular, it caused a landslide in a peripheral area, cutting off National Route 1 that leads to the west.

“In the event of a drift, the dwellings were swept away”immediately to journalists, Jean-Michel Sama Loconde, during her evocation “twenty dead”. “Searching the ruins” said the prime minister.

National Route 1, essential to supply the city, connects the capital with the port of the Matadi River, between Kinshasa and the Atlantic Ocean. This road subsidence occurred in the mountain town of Monte Nguvola, where frequent landslides are caused by rain and exacerbated by chaotic urbanization.

“Refill work has already begun.”said the prime minister. According to him, the small vehicles could be on the road within twenty-four hours. For trucks, you need Civil engineering work that can take three to four days.Saucepan.

Previously in November 2019

In the city, small rivers, canals and sewers overflow, flooding the streets including in La Gombe, one of the twenty-four municipalities in the city district, which is generally the most spared from the daily hardships of the people of Kinshasa, such as the lack of electricity, the accumulation of rubbish and the recurrence of floods. This region is home to ministries and embassies.

In November 2019, about 40 people were killed in Kinshasa, victims of heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides. Mont Ngvola was one of the municipalities hardest hit.

In November, Killed at least twenty people In landslides and floods caused by heavy rains in Masisi territory (North Kivu), eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.