At least ten people, including a mother and her seven children, lost their lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after heavy rains triggered a landslide on Friday, according to the local authorities.
The disaster occurred in the farming town of Nkubi in South Kivu province, where torrents of mud swept away homes, destroyed a structure owned by a local agricultural cooperative, and ravaged fields. Thomas Bakenga, the territorial administrator for the territory that includes Nkubi, confirmed the fatalities.
The incident “is really a tragedy. We have told people to avoid building houses on slopes,” Bakenga stated.
Delphin Birimbi, president of the Kalehe civil society group, reported that several houses had been swept away, while 31 others sustained significant damage. Birimbi warned that the death toll could rise as assessments continue, adding that food plantations critical for the local community were also destroyed.
Torrential rains are a frequent cause of deadly flooding in the African state, but they are now occurring more often outside of the traditional rainy seasons. In a similar incident in April, at least 12 people died in southwest Congo when a ravine collapsed onto a river during heavy rainfall.
More recently, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that flooding has affected 55,000 people in Ituri province due to rising water levels in Lake Albert.
Also on November 17, a local media reported an incident a landslide revealed large copper deposits in Katanga in the central African state.
In July, Ethiopia faced two deadly landslides that buried hundreds under mud. The death toll after torrential rains in the country’s southern Gofa region reached 500, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The disaster affected over 15,500 people, including 1,320 children under five.