The tragedy comes days after flooding killed over 120 people in neighboring Rwanda. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres remarked, “this is yet another illustration of accelerating climate change and its disastrous impact on countries that have done nothing to contribute to global warming.” Flooding in the DRC began last Thursday as heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, destroying homes, communities, and farms. Nearly 3,000 families have been left homeless in a region already struggling with armed conflict.
“It’s like the end of the world,” 27-year-old Gentille Ndagijimana, who lost her parents and two sisters, told the AFP news agency. Climate change is increasing extreme precipitation, and intensifying storms, putting a growing number of inland and coastal communities at risk. (Reuters, CNN, ABC News, BBC, NBC News, Democracy Now, New York Times $; Climate Signals: Floods)