DR Congo flooding: Heavy rains in dry season in Kinshasa kill at least 29
Kinshasa sits on the Congo river, which is one of the longest in the world and stretches across the country.Many residents of the capital live in poorly built homes, or near areas prone to flooding, as its population grows with an influx of people from other parts of the country. Kinshasa's population is estimated to be nearing18 million - an increase of more than 4% from 2024, according to Macrotrends. Interior Minister Shabani Lukoo chaired a crisis meeting to coordinate the government's flood response, the interior ministry said in a statement. The government extended its condolences to bereaved families, and would cover the funeral expenses of the 29 people who died, it added. More than 100 people died in flash floods in eastern DR Congo's South Kivu region in May, and more than 30 in Kinshasa in April.
More BBC stories on DR Congo:
Rare antelope captured on camera as experts say under 100 exist'I risked drowning to flee conscription by Congolese rebels'The evidence that shows Rwanda is backing rebels in DR Congo
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Texas floodwaters send trees crashing into river
Powerful Texas floodwaters have sent trees crashing down into the San Gabriel River, as the state continues to be ravaged by fast-moving flash flooding that has so far claimed the lives of 82 people. Footage filmed on Saturday (5 July) shows uprooted trees lying in the middle of the river and more being torn from the banks and swept downstream. Over 80 people, including 28 children, have died in the floods, which began when heavy rainfall in western Kerr County on Thursday (3 July) caused severe flooding along the Guadalupe River. The search for survivors has entered its fourth day, with dozens still missing whilst forecasters have warned of another 10 inches of rain on Monday (7 July).
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Syrian wildfires spread due to heavy winds and war remnants
Syrian firefighters are facing heavy winds, high temperatures and ordnance left behind from the 13-year civil war as they try to extinguish some of country's worst wildfires in years, a government minister said Monday. The fires, which started last week, have proven difficult to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon that came to the war-torn country to help Syrian teams fight the blaze. Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said their main challenges are two locations in the coastal province of Latakia that they have been trying to control for two days. 'We have controlled other locations,' al-Saleh told The Associated Press at the scene. On the second day of the fire, firefighters managed to get 90% of the wildfires under control but explosions of left-over war ordnance and heavy winds helped spread the fires again, al-Saleh said. He added that 120 teams are fighting the blazes. On Monday, the Lebanese army said it sent two helicopters to help fight the fires in coordination with Syrian authorities. Over the weekend, U.N. teams deployed to the Syrian coast where they are conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the damage and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs. Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions that then lead to blazes. Also, below-average rainfall over the winter left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Texas flood survivors search for the missing and sift through ruins as they ask why there were no warnings
The stench of death still hangs over the Guadalupe River, three days after the watercourse spectacularly burst its banks and flooded the small Texas towns of Ingram, Kerrville, Center Point, and Hunt early on Independence Day. T he tragedy has claimed at least 89 lives, while 41 people are still missing including 10 young girls from a Christian summer camp. Most of the victims were swept away in the early hours of Friday morning after the river rose 23ft in a matter of minutes. Alerts that should have woken them to the impending danger never arrived, with many in areas with no signal or with alarms that didn't sound. 'There were no warnings on my phone until about eight in the morning which is long after this happened,' said Jamie Flick, 48, who lives in Ingram. 'That's crazy. The best thing I can think of is that they just didn't expect this here, but we have a lot of smaller tributaries that run into the Guadalupe. 'If it rains up that way, you're gonna be hit here, right? We don't know why the warnings weren't here, but they just weren't. It's scary.' Flick was speaking to the Daily Mail while searching a local trailer park, upended by the floods, for missing pets. All around are the signs of desolation. Hidden among loblolly pines that once lined the river banks are the corpses of deer and other wildlife killed in the disaster, rotting in the 84F Texas heat. The reek of dead fish flipped out of the water adds to the stench which mingles gruesomely with the smell of smoke emanating from the bonfires of tumbled tree branches set by cleanup crews. Bridges, some caved in, are swarmed with rescue teams accompanied by cadaver dogs hunting desperately for any sign of life among the devastation. Once an oasis of rural peace, there is quiet no more. Sirens constantly blare as police teams and first responders screech past on Highway 39, the country road that connects Kerrville with Ingram and the tiny town of Hunt where 27 children lost their lives at Camp Mystic. Stories of near misses and death are everywhere. Flick tells of a friend from the same trailer park who woke in the small hours to find water pouring into her home. 'They got out through a back window,' Flick said. 'She was able to get out with her dog and her cat, they got stuck in a tree, her with her cat on her head. 'Her dog was on a harness, but she let him go at some point for whatever reason and couldn't get him back. Eventually a neighbor saved her and the cat.' Bambi Harrell, 62, spent Sunday helping friends pick up the shattered pieces of their lives, told Daily Mail she had never witnessed disaster of this scale in her 25 years in the area She added: 'They keep downplaying it, but I've never seen anything like this. They keep saying that 30 or 50 years ago, we had something like this. 'These trees are hundreds of years old, and they're uprooted and they're down. 'We've always had these huge trees, and the huge trees are gone now. So, it's nothing that's ever seen here before.' Flick is not alone in her assessment of the devastation wrought by the floods. Bambi Harrell, 62, who spent Sunday helping friends pick up the shattered pieces of their lives, said: 'I've lived here 25 years and I've seen a lot of flash flooding but nothing like this. 'We have some amazing first responders here that are going above and beyond.' She added: 'I thought I was prepared for this, but I was not. I've never seen anything like this. It's devastating.' Driving through Kerrville and the neighboring towns of Ingram and Center Point, the scale of the devastation quickly becomes clear. A road bridge across the river was partially caved in, while huge loblollies lie snapped in half like discarded toothpicks. Crushed cars are mangled on the Guadalupe's banks while upturned boats were scattered around – ripped from their moorings by the sheer force of the current. Elsewhere, homes are ripped up, including in River's Edge – a small leafy row of trailer homes just a few feet from the Guadalupe in Ingram. It was there that dad-of-two Julian Ryan, 27, died a hero after punching through a window so his family could escape – at the cost of almost severing his arm. Speaking to CBS affiliate KHOU in the aftermath, his devastated widow Christine Wilson said: 'It severed his artery in his arm and almost cut it clean off.' Julian Ryan, 27, is being hailed a hero after he used his final moments to save his family from the fast-moving waters. He died after punching through a window of their trailer home and severing his artery Inside Ryan's trailer, flood marks almost reached the ceiling while the family's furniture was tossed around like toys by the water Heartbreakingly, despite repeated 911 calls, Ryan could not be saved – telling his family, 'I'm sorry, I'm not going to make it. I love y'all.' Daily Mail photos of the trailer home show the catastrophic damage it suffered, with flood marks almost reaching the ceiling while the family's furniture was tossed around like toys. Mud is splattered up the inside walls while one side of the property was cracked and bent, with bits of the corrugated iron exterior ripped off. Other trailers in the neighborhood had been shifted off their foundations – with some landing three streets away. 'It's just total devastation,' said neighbor Ray Lackey. Like Ryan's, his trailer home was wrecked in the flood and is now filled with mud that has destroyed most of his possessions – including irreplaceable photographs of his late father and sister. 'There are families that lost their lives, people who were killed that I know. It's hard. I lost everything and everybody here – and I mean everybody here – lost everything.' Lackey, a carpenter, was out of town when the flood hit but, with no insurance, he now faces an uphill battle to get his life back on track. 'Hopefully somebody will help us out somehow. I wish I would have had insurance, really, right?' he said. 'I never would have thought anything like this would have happened. The river has never come up. That's why I don't, and I've lived here for a good amount of time.' On nearby streets, houses still stood but were packed with smelly river mud while another property – which had been named Paradise by its distraught owner – was playing host to a phalanx of police vehicles. Meanwhile, the usually serene TX-39 highway that cuts through town had been turned into a snarl of cop cars and big rigs hauling specialist gear, such as air boats and cherry pickers equipped with tracks. 'Before this, this was just a beautiful, peaceful, lovely place,' said Lackey. 'It was very quiet. Nobody messed with nobody. 'Everybody helped out around here. And now everybody is kind of coming together. It helps having people like them around and now they're coming out to help.'
