Locals were reporting seeing hippos, crocodiles and snakes in flooded inhabited areas, risking fatal attacks, especially on children and livestock
\nKINSHASA
\nEastern DR Congo faces a \u201chumanitarian catastrophe\u201d after being hit by severe flooding affecting about half a million people, the UN World Food Programme said Wednesday.
\n\u201cHeavier rainfall than usual during the rainy season, prompted by climate change, has forced rivers and lakes to overflow, swallowing towns, villages and roads on the shores,\u201d the WFP said in a report citing \u201cchaos\u201d in South Kivu and Tanganyika provinces.
\nWorst-affected are Haut-Lomami and Tanganyika provinces, which border the lake of the same name as well as neighboring Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.
\n\u201cAll around Lake Tanganyika, and areas upstream of the Congo River basin, people have lost their homes, their fields and livelihoods,\u201d the WFP reported, estimating 471,000 people were affected with 451,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) flooded, including 21,000 hectares of cropland.
\n\u201cPeople in flooded areas need food, shelter, clean drinking water, health and sanitation support, as well as support to restart their livelihoods.
\n\u201cHowever, WFP has very limited resources to respond to the flooding crisis due to current funding levels and the food assistance pipeline situation.\u201dDemocratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
\n\u201cWith towns and villages swallowed in the lakes and rivers, diseases are rife. Latrines have overflowed into the water that surrounds people\u2019s homes and sanitation is poor.
\n\u201cPeople are forced to wade through and wash their clothes and cooking implements in cholera-riddled water,\u201d said the report, warning of \u201ca whole host of animal-borne diseases.\u201d
\nLocals were reporting seeing hippos, crocodiles and snakes in flooded inhabited areas, risking fatal attacks, especially on children and livestock.
\nAmid lost harvests, \u201cpeople are struggling to feed their families which is leading to more people arriving in health care facilities with symptoms related to months of poor food intake. Especially children are at risk of developing malnutrition.\u201d
\nFlooding has hit vast swathes of Africa in recent weeks, which have notably claimed 257 lives in Kenya, according to a latest toll Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Locals were reporting seeing hippos, crocodiles and snakes in flooded inhabited areas, risking fatal attacks, especially on children and livestock KINSHASA Eastern DR Congo faces a \u201chumanitarian catastrophe\u201d after being hit by severe flooding affecting about half a million people, the UN World Food Programme said Wednesday. \u201cHeavier rainfall than usual during the rainy season, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-405884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n