Mudslides in Sierra Leone claim 312 lives
At least 312 people were killed and more than 2,000 left homeless yesterday when heavy flooding hit Sierra Leone’s capital of Freetown, leaving morgues overflowing and residents desperately searching for loved ones.
A journalist at the scene saw bodies being carried away and houses submerged in two areas of the city, where roads turned into churning rivers of mud and bodies were washed up on the streets.
Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi said the death toll could rise further as his team continued to survey disaster areas in Freetown.
Relatives dug through mud in search of loved ones as others carried family members’ bodies in sacks to Freetown morgue. Bodies there were spread out on the floor because of the lack of space, said Sinneh Kamara, a coroner’s technician at the Connaught hospital mortuary.
“The capacity at the mortuary is too small for the corpses,” Mr Kamara said, urging the health department to send more ambulances to help.
Sierra Leone’s vice president, Victor Foh, was at the scene of the mudslide in the mountain town of Regent, where a section of a hill had collapsed. He said illegal buildings had been built there.
“It is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble,” Mr Foh said.
“The disaster is so serious that I feel broken. We’re trying to cordon off the area and evacuate.”
People cried as they looked at the damage, gesturing towards a muddy hillside where dozens of houses once stood.
Many of the impoverished areas of Sierra Leone’s capital are close to sea level and have poor drainage, worsening the effects of floods.
Mudslides and floods are common during the rainy season in West Africa, where deforestation and poor town planning put residents at risk.
Flooding in Freetown in 2015 killed 10 people.