Over 33 lives have been lost in the Congolese capital Kinshasa after heavy rains unleashed devastating floods leaving a trail of death, displacement and desperation in one of Africa’s most densely populated cities.
According to local officials, families are walking, swimming or paddling to safety through floaded streets using homemade canoes as rising waters swallow homes and neighborhoods.
The catastrophe struck overnight hitting the city with relentless rainstorms that overwhelmed the already fragile drainage system collapsing roads, sweeping away vehicles and turning communities into muddy lakes.
With over 17 million people crowded into Kinshasa, the flooding has sparked a humanitarian emergency of immense proportions.
Footage circulating online shows heartbreaking pictures of children clinging to floating debris, mothers carrying infants above their heads and young men walking through dirty floodwater using planks and plastic containers.
Entire household trapped on rooftops with no food, no clean water and no visibility of rescue.
“We are dying in silence,” shouted one young man in the Matete district, speaking to local radio. “No one is coming. The water is rising. People are drowning in their homes.”
Emergency services have been stretched thin. Kinshasa’s Governor, Gentiny Ngobila, confirmed the death toll at 33 but warned that the number could rise as rescue teams reach more submerged areas.
Experts and activists are once again sounding alarms over urban planning failures, corruption and environmental neglect in the sprawling capital.
Kinshasa’s drainage system is decades-old and unable to withstand modern climate changes. Informal settlements built in flooded zones have made the problem worse.
“These are not just ‘natural’ disasters. They are the result of government negligence,” said Dr. Chantal Luyeye, an urban development scholar. “People are dying not because it rained, but because the system failed to protect them from the rain.”
Climate scientists have also noted that climate change is intensifying rainfall patterns across Central Africa making flooding more frequent and more deadly.
The total scale of this disaster is testing Kinshasa’s resilience like never before. Schools are closed, hospitals are overwhelmed and major roads are impassable.
In Gombe, one of the city’s more affluent areas, cars are floating. In the poorer suburbs of Selembao and Masina, families were swept away.
President Félix Tshisekedi, who is currently on a state visit abroad has called for emergency response measures and pledged support for victims, but opposition argue that talking is not enough.
“Kinshasa bleeds every rainy season. We bury the dead and then wait for the next flood,” tweeted one local activist. “This must stop.”
Humanitarian agencies are calling for urgent international assistance as thousands remain displaced and dozens more unaccounted for. Relief camps are being set up in dry zones around the capital but food, shelter and medical supplies are in short supply.
