DR Congo floods kill 20 people in Kinshasa

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DR Congo floods kill 20 people in Kinshasa

2:13 CAT | 09 Dec 2015

BBC News

An estimated 20 people have died in floods in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over the last 10 days, the authorities say.

A resident said it was the worst flooding he had seen in 18 years of living next to the River N’djili. A tributary to the Congo River, it overflowed after heavy rain on Sunday night causing extensive damage. A UN-backed radio station said a water treatment plant was affected, cutting off most residents’ drinking water. Gervais Ntariba Bahimba, provincial director of Regideso, the firm responsible for water distribution in DR Congo, told Radio Okapi it could take two to three days to fix the facility.

Emmanuel Akweti, the local minister for the capital’s inner city, told the BBC’s Poly Muzalia that around 20 people have died since 29 November. BBC Meteorologist Alex Deakin says satellite images from the area suggest that as much a month’s worth of rain may have fallen in the past week. It is the rainy season and further heavy showers are expected in the coming few days, which may exacerbate the situation, he adds.

Source: BBC News