Landslides Kill 23 Near Cameroon’s Capital, Yaounde

At least 23 people have been killed in landslides caused by heavy rains in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, the emergency services have said.

A local radio station however puts the death toll at 40, saying that many people are still missing.

Rescue efforts were hampered by floods, forcing locals to pull bodies out of the debris with their bare hands.

Heavy rainfall caused the Mefou River to burst its banks on Sunday, submerging several surrounding neighbourhoods.

The disaster comes almost a year after at least 14 people died in another landslide in the city.

The poor neighbourhood of Mbankolo was worst affected in the latest disaster, with some homes, built on slopes, collapsing and banana trees being uprooted.

The bodies of children were “spread out on the wet ground”, a resident was quoted as saying by the Cameroon Voice news website.

In total, 12 bodies have been identified and taken to the morgue according to the private Actu Cameroun website reports.

About 25 houses were swept away by the raging floods and “many families are certainly still trapped alive”, it added.

On Saturday, authorities in neighbouring Nigeria warned residents to expect floods in nine states as Cameroon began releasing water from its Lagdo Dam.

It is expected to do this until the end of this month, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) said, adding that Cameroon’s dam was expected to spill water until the end of October.

Cameroon says the release of water is necessary due to heavy rains in the country’s north.

The release would be kept to a minimum, officials added.

Last year, the release of water from the dam caused flooding and fatalities in Nigeria, especially in Benue state, on the border with Cameroon.