DR Congo Flood Report 172 Bodies Discovery
In the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a village that had previously experienced flooding has seen the recovery of no less than 172 dead.
The provincial authorities reported major damage and fatalities in the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi as a result of the torrential rainfall that poured in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and caused the river to overflow.
At least 172 victims were recovered by humanitarian workers from the rubble; majority of them were women and children, according to a Reuters correspondent in Bushushu.
The reporter reported that the weather had cleared, exposing flattened homes and corrugated iron roofs that protruded from deep mounds of muck.
A group of haggard-appearing survivors stood outside a wooden shed where bodies were being heaped high by Red Cross employees wearing blue scrubs.
Many were coated in mud and lacked clothing.
Thomas Bakenga, the local administrator, stated on Thursday that at least 17 people had died as a result of the flooding and that there were about 40 people still missing.
In the province of South Kivu, floods and landslides are not unusual events.
The last incidence of this size, according to the UN, was in October 2014, when a period of intense rain caused the destruction of over 700 dwellings.
At the time, there were more than 130 missing persons reported.
