Thousands affected by floods in eastern DRC April 20, 2024

The Congolese Red Cross says that 274 people have been buried so far, including 98 women and 82 children. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Thousands affected by floods in eastern DRC

Thousands of homes and dozens of schools have been affected by floods in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and local authorities asked the central government for help on Friday.

"At least 4,500 houses have collapsed, more than 2,000 plots of land have disappeared and more than 7,000 families have been affected by the overflowing rivers and the rising waters of Lake Tanganyika," Dominique Kalonzo, head of communications at Uvira prefecture, told AFP.

Kalonzo added that 53 schools had been flooded in the eastern city of Uvira, according to a prefecture report drawn up earlier this week.

"Those affected have been taken in by families, while others are spending the night under the stars," Kalonzo added.

"The municipal council of Uvira has launched an urgent appeal to the Congolese government and humanitarian organizations because Uvira is at risk of being hit by epidemics."

For weeks, torrential rains have hit the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika in the South Kivu region, which borders Burundi's flood-hit economic capital Bujumbura. Lake Tanganyika is the second-largest lake in Africa.

"It's a worrying situation, even national road five on the Uvira-Fizi section is flooded," Santos Kitandala, a civil society activist from Fizi, told AFP.

"A large market, the Mwemezi market, has been swallowed up, as have several administrative offices."

The floods are also affecting the town of Kalemie, further south.

In addition to the DRC, East Africa is experiencing torrential rains that killed at least 58 people in Tanzania during the first half of April and another 13 in Kenya.

The rains have been practically non-stop in Burundi, one of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Its two usual rainy seasons are from September to January and from March to May.

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