Heavy rain in Guinea capital kills at least seven
CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP)—At least seven people have died in Guinea’s capital Conakry due to heavy overnight rain, the government said Thursday.
The city’s civil protection service had earlier told AFP that 10 people were killed and at least three were missing.
Several buildings collapsed during the downpour, trapping residents in floodwaters, local media and witnesses said.
One resident, Benjamin Kamano, described to AFP how his three children and their mother died when they were washed away when part of their house collapsed in the deluge.
“I heard the children calling for help,” he said. “I got up quickly and found myself underwater… There was no one in the children’s room. I realised they were gone, because their crying had stopped.”
The deaths added to a toll of 15 the government previously gave this week from flooding that has gripped the west African country since the end of June.
The urban inundations were worsened by uncontrolled construction and clogged gutters, the director of Guinea’s National Agency for Emergency and Humanitarian Disaster Management, Lancei Toure, told AFP on Tuesday.
