Heavy rainfall in the last three weeks has wreaked havoc in the capital, Kinshasa. 31 people have died, while almost 20 thousand families have been left homeless. Residents want more preventative steps taken, authorities are linking the deadly floods to climate change.Angry residents want quick government intervention.
The city’s wet season normally runs from October to May, but this year, the rains began only in mid-November, with a third of the average annual number falling in less than three weeks. Most of the deaths from the recent floods occurred in the city’s particularly impoverished southern and eastern districts, notably along the banks of the giant Congo river. And despite of cries by locals for the authorities to build dams, the government says climate change is to blame, coupled with the increasing population in the capital city.
