Impressive floods kill more than 170 in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2023-05-06 04:49:00

Two days after deadly rains in Rwanda, the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo was hit Thursday evening by floods which killed more than 170 people in South Kivu (East), according to an official report still provisional on Friday.

“We have just made the macabre count, we have about 176 people dead,” provincial governor Théo Ngwabije, who visited the scene of the disaster, told the press at the end of the day. “It is a balance sheet which is provisional (…), we also have a hundred missing”, he specified from the hospital of Ihusi, capital of the territory of Kalehe affected by the floods.

#RDC????????Dead and missing in floods and landslides caused by heavy rains on the night of Wednesday to Thursday May 4 in the #Cafe in South Kivu. Local sources speak of at least 100 people missing, and more than 59 p dead, including several children. pic.twitter.com/cR6SJ6osFU

— Justin KABUMBA (@kabumba_justin) May 5, 2023

Several villages in Kalehe territory, west of Lake Kivu marking the border between the DRC and Rwanda, were submerged when rivers burst their banks, said Archimedes Karhebwa, the territory’s assistant administrator.

The most affected localities include Chabondo, Bushushu, Nyamukubi, in the Mbinga-Sud groupement. Hundreds of houses were swept away, fields devastated, the waters even “surprised vendors and their customers in the markets”, he added.

According to the territory’s assistant administrator, “this is the 4th time that such damage has been caused by the same rivers (…), not ten years go by without them causing enormous damage”. The village of Bushushu in particular was devastated in 2014 by torrential rains which left dozens of people missing.

130 dead in Rwanda

After the previous disasters, “studies had been made, it had been requested that people living along the rivers be moved”, recalled Mr. Karhebwa. This damage, he commented, is due in part to “a natural process”. But they are also linked to “deforestation, which contributes to climate change”.

Floods and landslides caused by torrential seasonal rains killed at least 130 people overnight in Rwanda, one of the country’s worst disasters in recent years.

Africa regularly experiences flooding during the rainy seasons. Their intensity and frequency should continue to increase with climate change, estimate meteorological experts.