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36 dead after heavy rain pounds DR Congo capital

By AFP
26 November 2019   |   4:13 pm
Thirty-six people died in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa after torrential overnight rains, with some swept away by landslides, a top city official said Tuesday, giving a provisional toll.

A road surface swept away by a landslide caused by torrential overnight rains is photographed in the Lemba district of Kinshasa, on November 26, 2019. – Thirty-six people died in the Lemba district of the capital Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo after torrential overnight rains, with some swept away by landslides, a top city official said on November 26, 2019, giving a provisional toll. (Photo by Manu Kalombo / AFP)

Thirty-six people died in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa after torrential overnight rains, with some swept away by landslides, a top city official said Tuesday, giving a provisional toll.

“The (provincial) interior minister has just advised of a toll of 36 dead. The search (for survivors) is continuing. The loss, in terms of property and lives, is really huge,” Kinshasa’s vice governor, Neron Mbungu, told AFP.

At least two bridges collapsed as well as a part of a major road in the capital, Mbungu said, adding that the dead included a child who was electrocuted.

Fatal floods and rains are frequent in Kinshasa. In January last year, dozens were killed in landslides and floods and after houses collapsed following just one night of heavy rain.

Africa’s third largest city, Kinshasa counts around 10 million inhabitants, many of whom live in precarious dwellings.

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