Flooding kills 120 in Kinshasa
More than 120 people were killed Tuesday as the worst floods in years battered DR Congo's capital Kinshasa following an all-night downpour, authorities said in a provisional assessment.
Major roads in the centre of Kinshasa, a city of some 15 million people, were submerged for hours, and a key supply route was cut off.
The death toll -- which was first estimated in the late afternoon to be at least 55 -- jumped to more than 120 by nightfall.
The government has announced three days of national mourning that began yesterday, according to a statement from Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde's office.
City police chief General Sylvano Kasongo told AFP that the bulk of people dead were on hillside locations where there had been landslides.
An AFP reporter saw the bodies of nine members of the same family -- including young children -- who had died after the collapse of their home in the Binza Delvaux district.
"We were woken up at around 4:00 am (0300 GMT) by water entering the house," a relative said.
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