Heavy rain destroyed homes and forced rescue workers to pile mud-covered remains into mounds, killing at least 176 people, according to a regional governor in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday.
Heavy rains in the Kalehe region caused river overflows, flooding the settlements of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in South Kivu province on Thursday.
South Kivu Governor Théo Ngwabidje Kasi reported 176 deaths and the disappearance of many more. Kasole Martin, a member of the local civic society, claimed to have uncovered 227 bodies. According to Martin, schools, and hospitals have been devastated, and people are sleeping in the open.
On Friday, gaunt survivors stood by as Red Cross workers dressed in blue scrubs placed corpses inside a wooden cabin. Many were unclothed and filthy.
Flattened houses with corrugated iron roofs jutting up through layers of mud were photographed.
Wounded survivors have been pouring in since Thursday night, according to Robert Masamba, a doctor at the largest hospital in the Kalehe region.
I haven’t slept in days because of my coworkers. Sixty-six people have been hospitalized, he says, and “eighty percent of them have fractures.”
South Kivu, which borders Rwanda, is prone to floods and landslides. Heavy rains in Rwanda this week triggered floods and landslides, killing 130 people and destroying nearly 5,000 homes.
In the Congo, severe rains in October 2014 destroyed over 700 houses. At the time, the United Nations reported that more than 130 people were missing.
