Flooding in Central African Republic leaves at least 28,000 homeless
- Torrential rains have pounded the country for several days, causing the Oubangui River and its tributaries to overflow
- In the capital Bangui, with a population of about 1 million, mud homes have literally dissolved in the floods
The worst flooding in two decades in the Central African Republic has left at least 28,000 people homeless, the country’s Red Cross said on Tuesday, with the government calling the disaster a “huge natural catastrophe”.
Torrential rains have pounded the country for several days, causing the Oubangui River and its tributaries to overflow.
“The latest toll is 28,000 people made homeless” across the former French colony, Central African Red Cross president Antoine Mbao-bogo said, adding that entire neighbourhoods are “underwater”.
In the capital Bangui, with a population of about 1 million, mud homes have literally dissolved in the floods.
“Today our country, and not just the city of Bangui, faces a huge natural catastrophe,” government spokesman Ange-Maxime Kazagui said in a television address late on Monday.
“The Oubangui River has burst its banks, and its tributaries can no longer flow into it, creating a phenomenon of massive overflow.”