At least 104 people were killed by the floods in a village near the banks of Lake Tanganika, in the Eastern People’s Republic of Congo, local sources said today.

A local official, Sami Kalodzi, the governor of the area of ​​Fesi, said the village in his periphery counts at least 104 dead and “huge material damage”. Residents of the village of Kasaba, located in the province of South Kivu, were “asleep” on Thursday night to Friday, another official, Bernard Akili, the head of the anganza sector, said.

According to Akili, the heavy rains overflowed the Kasaba River and its waters dragged what they found in their way, “large stones, trees and mud, leveling the houses on the banks of the lake”.

Most victims are children and older people.

Another 28 people were injured and 150 houses were destroyed, Akili added.

Another local source told the French Agency that 119 corpses had been identified to date.

In the village of Kasaba there is only access through the lake. The mobile network does not work in the area.

Such disasters are common in Congo’s LD, especially on the banks of large lakes surrounded by mountains that have been deforested due to carbon extraction. In 2023 400 people were drowned in many communities on the banks of Lake Kivu, in the province of South Kivos.

In early April at least 30 people died in the capital Kinshasa after the torrential rains that hit the area.

Climate change is partly responsible for increasing extreme weather events which, according to experts, will intensify on the African continent. By 2030 it is estimated that 118 million very poor Africans (with income not more than $ 2 a day) will be faced with drought, floods and extreme heat.