Bukavu, DR Congo, May 5 (AFP/APP): More than 100 people have died after heavy rains and flooding in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province, officials said on Friday.
Archimede Karhebwa, the assistant administrator of South Kivu’s Kalehe territory — which was hit by the floods — told AFP about 100 people had died, according to a provisional toll.
Several villages in Kalehe, which lies west of Lake Kivu, were submerged when rivers burst their banks after heavy rains, he said.
Vital Muhini, an elected official from Kalehe, also told a local radio station that the floods had been “devastating human and material damage”.
He put the number of deaths at around 150, with 72 people killed in the village of Chabondo, 31 in the village of Bushungu, and 45 in the village of Nyamukubi.
AFP was unable to independently confirm the death toll, with reported figures varying.
A member of a rescue team deployed on Friday afternoon, who declined to be named, said that 68 bodies had been found.
“The search is continuing in the rubble,” he said.
Eastern Congo’s deadly flooding follows the death of at least 127 people this week after downpours in neighbouring Rwanda, which lies on the other side of Lake Kivu.
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