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Photos: In DR Congo, flood survivors mourn lost relatives

Warming temperatures due to climate change are increasing the intensity and frequency of Africa’s rains, UN says.

Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Flood and landslide survivors try to mourn and live among the wreckage of the disaster in Nyamukubi in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Published On 9 May 2023

Bodies are still being recovered from two villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where floods killed more than 400 people last week in one of the deadliest disasters in the country’s recent history.

Many dazed survivors were mourning multiple family members killed in the flash floods that swept away homes and buried the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi, both in South Kivu province, in muck and debris. Thousands of people have been displaced by the floods, which also swept away roads.

“Over there in the mud, that’s where our house was,” 22-year-old Alliance Mufanzara said, pointing at an empty plot of churned earth. “We lost six people in our family. In our house, five children died and our mother, who is the sixth.”

She, her younger brother and their father are the only survivors.

“We’re scared because our whole family is finished,” she said. “We have nothing.”

Humanitarian workers have spent days recovering mud-caked bodies from the wrecked villages in Kalehe territory, where days of torrential rain triggered landslides and caused rivers to burst their banks on Thursday.

“It is an unprecedented humanitarian disaster,” government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said.

Kinshasa declared Monday as a national day of mourning. Flags flew at half-staff in memory of the victims.

The large number of casualties has meant workers have had to bury victims in mass graves, according to videos posted online.

“We left everything behind,” said Bushushu resident Bahati Kabanga, 32, who managed to rescue his only child but lost his sister, aunt and nephews.

“We felt a tremor while it was raining and decided to flee after seeing houses collapse in the distance,” he said.

More than 400 people are confirmed dead, South Kivu Governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi said on Monday as the toll more than doubled Friday.

Civil society sources on the ground expect the number of dead to rise further as bodies are still floating in rivers and buried under debris. Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, according to the United Nations.

Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
At least 394 bodies have been recovered after last week's landslides and floods, says Thomas Bakenga, administrator of Kalehe territory, where the affected villages are located. The governor says the death toll has risen over 400. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
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Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
More than 8,800 people have been impacted by the floods, which swept away homes, schools and roads. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
A man carries a door from his wrecked home to a makeshift house after the disaster that hit the village of Bushushu in eastern DRC. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Members of the Red Cross search houses for bodies after the floods in Nyamukubi. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Debris in a flooded house in Nyamukubi. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Families have been separated, and traumatised survivors are taking refuge in other people's homes, the Red Cross says. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
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Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Torrential rains that began across Kalehe territory on May 4, 2023, unleashed landslides that covered landscapes in mud, but this tree remains standing. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
The Congolese Red Cross says burials have been conducted for 274 people so far, including 98 women and 82 children. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Heavy rains in recent days have brought misery to thousands of people in East Africa, including parts of Uganda and Kenya. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
Residents are searching homes for family members who disappeared during the Nyamukubi floods and are still missing. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]
Congo flood survivors mourn lost relatives as death toll rises above 400
The Congolese government declared Monday as a national day of mourning. Flags flew at half-staff in memory of the victims. [Guerchom Ndebo/AFP]