Landslides kill 16 in eastern DRC

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Landslides caused by torrential rains have killed more than a dozen people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, local authorities said late Thursday.

Mwanza Nangunia, minister for social and humanitarian Affairs in South Kivu province, said 16 people were killed in landslides and at least 160 homes destroyed.

Roads serving remote communities had been cut, the minister added.

Since the beginning of December, heavy rains have caused nearly 50 deaths and made more than 500 families homeless in South Kivu, which borders Rwanda and Burundi.

On the other side of Africa’s second-largest country, heavy floods in capital Kinshasa last week killed at least 33 people and destroyed more than 20,000 homes.

Authorities called on people to move away from the Congo River before heavy rains return at the end of December.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Landslides caused by torrential rains have killed more than a dozen people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, local authorities said late Thursday.

Mwanza Nangunia, minister for social and humanitarian Affairs in South Kivu province, said 16 people were killed in landslides and at least 160 homes destroyed.

Roads serving remote communities had been cut, the minister added.

Since the beginning of December, heavy rains have caused nearly 50 deaths and made more than 500 families homeless in South Kivu, which borders Rwanda and Burundi.

On the other side of Africa’s second-largest country, heavy floods in capital Kinshasa last week killed at least 33 people and destroyed more than 20,000 homes.

Authorities called on people to move away from the Congo River before heavy rains return at the end of December.