CONGO: Scores homeless in Brazzaville floods

Photo: Laudes Martial Mbon/IRIN

Earthworks to fill gulleys caused by heavy rains on 23 and 25 December in Emeraude, a Brazzaville neighbourhood in the 7th arrondissement.

BRAZZAVILLE, 28 December 2005 (IRIN) - Torrential rains have caused widespread flooding and mudslides in the northern suburbs of Brazzaville leaving scores of people homeless. The rains on Saturday and Sunday left at least one person dead in the suburb of Simba Pèle, state-owned Radio Congo reported on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Humanitarian Action, Sylvère Ngoulou, said the total number of people affected by the flooding was still unknown, but there were many. So far, she said, 78 affected people had been registered in one of the nine flood-damaged housing blocks. Heavy flooding is also reported in the suburb of Mpila, along the banks of the Congo River. The river sometimes burst its banks under heavy rain. "When it rains water often goes into homes; forcing residents to take their belongings and seek refuge on their roofs," Guillaume Ekia, who lives in the suburb, said. The rainy season, which started in September in Brazzaville and its environs, is not expected to end until January.