Torrential rain and flash floods kill at least 176 in eastern DR Congo

 

In not an uncommon occurrence in the country, at least 176 people have lost their lives in recent flash floods in the eastern DemocraticRepublic of the Congo, a regional official says.

Torrential downpours in South Kivu province caused a river to overflow on Thursday, leading to massive damage and loss of life in Bushushu and Nyamukubi villages, the provincial government said in a statement.

While South Kivu Governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi put the number of dead at 176 and said other people were still missing, Kasole Martin - a local civil society member - said 227 bodies had been recovered, adding survivors are sleeping out in the open as hospitals and schools have got swept away in the floods.

The weather had cleared on Friday. Tired-looking people stood outside a wooden shed in which Red Cross workers piled bodies on top of one another.

Floods and landslides are not counted among uncommon occurrences in South Kivu. An incident of a similar scale was last seen in October 2014 when torrential downpours destroyed over 700 houses. According to the UN, more than 130 people were reported missing at the time.

Other parts of the country are also familiar with heavy rainfall and floods. At least 21 people lost their lives last month and several others were reported missing after a disastrous landslide in North Kivu province. Furthermore, heavy rains in the capital, Kinshasa, in December killed at least 169.

The recent natural disaster in the eastern DRC has come on top of ongoing humanitarian crises due to years of violence from multiple armed groups.

According to updated data from the UN, the region has been suffering from intense fighting by at least 122 rebel groups for over 25 years. Consequently, scores of people have been displaced.

The country is home to the third-highest number of internally displaced people in the world, amounting to more than 5.5 million. A million other Congolese have also crossed the borders, taking shelter in other countries in the region.

Multiple reports suggest around 27 million people, or a third of the DRC's population, are going hungry.