Kinshasa, Congo (AP) – The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen to 176, with about 100 missing, according to a preliminary assessment by the governor and authorities in the country’s South Kivu province.
A river has broken in a village in the Kalehe region near the shores of Lake Kivu. Authorities also reported numerous injuries.
South Kivu Governor Theo Ngwabje said on Twitter that he had visited the area to witness the destruction and that the state government had provided medicine, shelter and food. Several of the main roads leading to the affected areas were impassable by the rain, hampering relief efforts.
President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday declared a national day of mourning to remember the victims, and the central government is sending crisis management teams to South Kivu to assist provincial governments.
Heavy rains in recent days have left thousands of people in dire conditions across East Africa, including parts of Uganda and Kenya.
Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, killed 129 people earlier this week.
