Landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at leat 30 people in Cameroon‘s capital Yaounde, officials have said.
Emergency services have said the death toll could rise with many people reported missing.
The bodies of children were scattered around the scenes of the incident, residents have told local media.
The heavy rains forced the Mefou River to burst its banks with a dam also bursting on Sunday. It released water, submerging several neighbourhoods.
Homes and other essential infrastructure have been destroyed in the landslide.
A resident told the public broadcaster CRTV that the rain caused a dyke in the neighborhood to rupture.
“I’ve just rushed here only to see that the artificial lake had indeed ruptured. I see this and I see injured people being evacuated and sent to the hospital. There are people that we know, that live in the neighborhood they are still unaccounted for,” he said.
A similar landslide occurred a year ago killing at least 14 people. Yaoundé is a hilly city and mudslides during the rainy season are frequent there.
Many of the buildings that collapsed on Sunday, according to officials had been marked for demolition.
There have been ongoing efforts to demolish houses in high-risk zones prone to floods and landslides in Cameroon.
Source: Africafeeds.com
