Floods in Eastern DR Congo Kill More Than 100

Raging floods rushing through a village during the night killed more than 100 people, many of them children as they slept, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local officials told AFP on Saturday.

The floods were sparked by torrential rains and ripped through the Kasaba village in the Sud Kivu province during the night of Thursday-Friday, Bernard Akili, a regional official, told AFP.

Torrential rains caused the Kasaba river to burst its banks overnight, with the rushing waters “carrying everything in their path, large stones, large trees and mud, before razing the houses on the edge of the lake,” he said.

“The victims who died are mainly children and elderly,” he said, adding that 28 people were injured and some 150 homes were destroyed.

Sammy Kalonji, the regional administrator, said the torrent killed at least 104 people and caused “enormous material damage.”

Another local resident told AFP that some 119 bodies had been found by Saturday.