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Mudslides, Floods Kill 44 in Kinshasa: DR Congo Officials

  • Ten of Kinshasa's 24 districts experienced power cuts after the banks of Kalamu river broke.

    Ten of Kinshasa's 24 districts experienced power cuts after the banks of Kalamu river broke.

Published 8 January 2018
Opinion

Torrential showers started early Thursday in the capital and continued for hours.

Floods and mudslides have claimed the lives of almost four dozen people in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, according to local authorities.

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“We have a final toll of 44 deaths,” provincial minister for health and social affairs, Dominique Weloli, reported. He also warned that the figure “remains provisional as rescue operations are ongoing.”

Torrential showers started early Thursday in the capital and continued for hours, resulting in the widescale destruction of infrastructure, Weloli stated.

He explained that collapsing walls, landslides and drowning were the main cause of death. The minister declared that the city's poor sewerage system was partly to blame.

Ten of Kinshasa's 24 districts experienced power cuts after the banks of Kalamu river gave way and flooded a substation.

The city has a population of 10 million and is the third largest metropolis in Africa after Cairo and Lagos.

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