Entire neighborhoods were flooded with muddy water, and houses and roads ripped apart by sinkholes and landslides, including the N1 highway that connects Kinshasa to the country’s main seaport of Matadi.
The death toll was compiled by the General Management of Migration, a part of the interior ministry, and might rise further.
Health minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani Mbanda told the Reuters news agency that the ministry had counted 141 dead but that the number needed to be cross-checked with other departments.
Once a collection of fishing villages on the banks of the Congo River, Kinshasa has grown into one of Africa’s largest megacities with a population of about 15 million people, according to AlJazeera.
Rapid development and poor regulation have made the city increasingly vulnerable to flash floods after intense rains, which have become more frequent due to climate change.
MP/PR
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