What happened, where and when?
On 13 December 2022, from 2am to 7.30am, torrential rain fell continuously on the city of Kinshasa, causing major flooding. On 16 December 2022, following initial assessments, the DRC Red Cross was able to carry out an other assessment of the situation in 16 of the 24 communes in the province of Kinshasa that had been flooded. These are the affected communes: Mont Ngafula, Ngaliema, Ngaba, Selembao, Kintambo, Bandalungua, Bumbu, Kisenso, Ngiri-Ngiri, Barumbu, Matete, Limete, Masina, Makala, Gombe and Kalamu. It was estimated that 84624 people (14104 households) were affected by the flooding, including 33510 in direct need, with 5585 houses flooded.
The rains continued to fall in December in the city of Kinshasa and several other families were affected. In January 2023, another assessment conducted by the DRC Red Cross was carried out showing that the damage had increased. Around 44000 people were directly in need and 7336 houses had been flooded, 806 of which had been destroyed.
Damage to infrastructure, the road network and the agro-pastoral reserves of several farms and households was also identified. A total of 169 people were recovered from the rubble, 6 people were reported missing and 87 people were injured. Losses of property and livelihoods were also reported in the affected households. Several host families were affected by the disaster. The rapid response of the DRC Red Cross through various forms of support, including this DREF allocation and other contributions from its partners in the country, contributed to the response of the most urgent needs in the most affected communes of Kinshasa.