Kinshasa: At least 100 killed as floods and landslides hit Congo's capital

Footage shows the scene of a road that collapsed in heavy rains in Matadi Kibala, Kinshasa, on Tuesday

At least 100 people have been killed and dozens injured by widespread floods and landslides unleashed by heavy rains in Congo's capital, Kinshasa.

Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said officials were still searching for more bodies.

“We came to assess the damage and the primary damage we see is human," Mr Lukonde said on state television on Tuesday.

Some 12 million people live in the 24 neighbourhoods of Kinshasa hit by the floods.

Local officials said people were killed, houses submerged, and roads ruined in the deluge.

In the Ngaliema area, more than three dozen people died and bodies are still being counted, the area's mayor Alid’or Tshibanda said.

In another part of town, five members from one family were killed, some by electrocution.

Pierrot Mantuela, 30, lost his mother, nine-year-old daughter and three brothers.

“It is a just calamity,” he said. “It's sad to lose all the members of my family.

Mr Mantuela had been spared because he was working Monday night when the rains began, he said.

Several people were killed in the Matadi Kibala area of Kinshasa after a road engulfed by heavy rains collapsed on Tuesday morning.

Officials said much of the destruction around Kinshasa happened in houses built on plots without official permission.

In 2019, flooding and landslides killed at least 32 in and around Kinshasa.

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