A minimum of 33 people have been confirmed dead after heavy rains and floods hit Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to officials.
Reports indicate that after the torrential rains, desperate residents have been trying to flee the floodwaters by swimming, wading, or paddling to safety in homemade canoes.
Kinshasa is a city that boasts about 17 million people and sits on the Congo River, one of the biggest in the world which stretches across the country.
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Frequent floods are no strange occurrences in the city, whose river recently reached its peak in about 60 years.
Many areas in Congo’s capital are prone to soil erosion and in recent years, the nation’s president has warned that the climate crisis is exacerbating the flooding situation.
Reports indicate that from Friday till the final hours of Saturday, many homes in west Kinshasa were swept away due to the floods and rains in Congo.
Approximately half of the city’s 26 districts in total are affected according to the capital’s mayor, who revealed that search and rescue teams have been sent out to help victims.
According to the BBC, the worst areas affected are the city’s outskirts as well as some of its poorest neighborhoods.
“The water has reached 1.5 metres high. We have just managed to save ourselves, the rest is trapped in our homes,” Christophe Bola, who lives in the Ndanu area said to the AFP news agency.
Reporters were also told by other local residents that they were angry with the authorities, accusing them of being passive while lacking proactiveness on the situation.
The floods have not just ended the lives of 33 people, but also reportedly left many across Congo’s capital struggling with water shortages, after water treatment pumps in the city were themselves inundated.
Even the city’s busiest road, which links the center with the international airport, is blocked, as well as some of the motorway that connects the capital to the country’s main port, Matadi.
At least one tributary of the Congo River — the N’djili River, has burst its banks, trapping many residents, Deputy President Jacquemain Shabani said on Sunday in a statement.
The N’djili is considered one of the more polluted rivers in the region, with Congolese scientists reporting high levels of fecal matter and other waste. Sewage maintenance also remains poor in many parts of the city, and there is little evidence of effective town planning.
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Last year, the government announced plans to address this long-standing issue although downpours are also forecast to affect northern and northeastern areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the coming days.
