The toll from floods and landslides within the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has risen to 203 individuals lifeless as extra our bodies are recovered, an administrative official stated Saturday.

The provisional demise toll, introduced late on Friday (Could 5) by the provincial governor, was no less than 176 lifeless.

“Right here in Bushushu, 203 our bodies have already been faraway from the rubble,” stated Thomas Bakenga, administrator of Kalehe territory, the place the affected villages are positioned.

It was not attainable to guage the complete extent of the human losses and materials harm, he informed native media.

Heavy rainfall within the Kalehe area of South Kivu province on Thursday triggered rivers to overflow, inflicting landslides that engulfed the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi.

The hillside additionally gave manner at Nyamukubi, the place the weekly market was held on Thursday, Bakenga added.

In all, a number of villages have been submerged, many homes washed away and fields devastated, when rivers within the area burst their banks as a result of heavy rains.

Congolese physician and Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, whose clinic is positioned in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, stated Saturday he had despatched a crew of surgeons, anaesthetists and technicians to the realm to “present the inhabitants with emergency medical help”.

The catastrophe got here two days after floods killed no less than 131 individuals and destroyed hundreds of houses in neighbouring Rwanda.

UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres on Saturday supplied his condolences to the victims of the “catastrophic floods” in Rwanda and DR Congo.

“That is one more illustration of accelerating local weather change and its disastrous impression on nations which have carried out nothing to contribute to world warming,” he stated throughout a go to to Burundi.

Specialists say excessive climate occasions are occurring with elevated frequency and depth on account of local weather change.