The death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to rise following heavy rain and extreme flooding that have ravaged the country in recent days.
At least 169 people have died as a result of destructive rains in the capital Kinshasa, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and officials said on Friday.
The flooding left another 30 people injured and pulverised an estimated 280 homes across the capital of some 15 million people, in which approximately 38,000 residents have been affected.
An estimated 8.2 million people in at least 20 different nations in west and central Africa have been affected by heavy rains in recent weeks. On Friday, the UN estimated that 2.9 million people had been displaced and more than half a million homes destroyed.
Located on the Congo River, Kinshasa has seen a huge population influx in recent years and many dwellings are shanty houses built on the flood-prone slopes of a city that suffers from inadequate drainage and sewerage. Media reports on the flooding earlier this week showed muddy waters overwhelming entire neighbourhoods.
Credit: Aljazeera
