After torrential downpours killed dozens in neighbouring Rwanda, authorities in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo claimed Friday that more than 170 people had perished due to severe rains and flooding there.
In the Kalehe district, west of Lake Kivu and close to the Rwandan border, where the floods also carried away hundreds of homes, South Kivu Governor Theo Ngwabije stated scores of people were missing.
‘We have about 176 people dead,’ he said while visiting the affected area. ‘This toll is provisional. We also have about 100 people missing,’ he further added.
An approximate toll of about 100 fatalities had been provided to the media earlier by Archimede Karhebwa, the assistant administrator of Kalehe.
On Monday, flags will be flown at half-staff ‘in memory of the lost compatriots’ and a day of national mourning will be celebrated, the administration declared on Friday.
After strong, torrential rains, several villages in Kalehe were submerged when rivers burst their banks.
The floodwaters, according to Karhebwa, ‘surprised vendors and their clients in the markets’ as well as destroying hundreds of homes.
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