In Boma, one of the worst-hit towns, residents told Al Jazeera they watched in despair as their loved ones were swept away by surging waters.<\/p>\n
Makiadi Mvubu, who lost one of his daughters to the floods, told Al Jazeera: “I was trying to get into the house but just before I could it collapsed.<\/p>\n
“We saved everyone but our daughter. We found her body four kilometres away.”<\/p>\n
Torrential rains caused the Kalamu river, which flows through Boma, some 470km southwest of the capital, Kinshasa, to overflow last month, causing waters to hit a peak of two metres above their average level.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Boma, said some family members were still searching for bodies that may be buried in the mud.<\/p>\n
“The force of the floodwater washed away a bridge,” she said. “It was so strong that some bodies were swept 35km into neighbouring Angola.”<\/p>\n
So far, 50 people have been confirmed dead.<\/p>\n
Anger has surged in the past few days at the government’s alleged slow response to the disaster.<\/p>\n
“I am very disappointed because there is no help,” Vundula Mwaka, a Boma resident who has lost his home twice in one year to flooding, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
“We have lost everything. I got injured and I still haven’t been treated until now, not even a painkiller.”<\/p>\n
Emergency services have been accused of being poorly equipped to deal with natural disasters, especially with towns and cities typically built up in a haphazard fashion.<\/p>\n
Despite its vast mineral wealth, the DRC is classed among the world’s poorest countries and two thirds of its 70 million inhabitants get by on less than $1.25 a day.<\/p>\n
{{SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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