People walk through flooded streets in Kinshasa. April 4, 2025. (Photo credit: Associated Press).

KINSHASA, DRC, (Eye Radio) – Around 30 people have died from flooding caused by torrential rains in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa, a provincial health minister said on Sunday.

Kinshasa’s Minister of Health Patricien Gongo Abakazi told Reuters news agency that torrential rains have caused widespread destruction on homes and roads leaving over 30 dead over the weekend.

The Ndjili River, which runs through part of the city of around 17 million, reportedly overflowed its banks on Friday night, blocking the main national road and leaving drivers stranded since Saturday evening.

Several neighborhoods were left without power, according to Reuters.

Kinshasa Governor Daniel Bumba Lubaki said the water infrastructure had been affected but that supply would be reinstated within two or three days.

In a televised speech, he blamed illegal housing for some of the deaths and threatened to evict people from unplanned settlements.

Hydrologist Dr. Raphael Tshimanga Muamba said the river had been affected by human activity over time.

“These are anthropogenic actions where rivers are degraded; their dimensions no longer represent their initial capacity to contain floods,” he told Reuters.

The flooding comes at a vulnerable moment for the Central African nation, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have intensified an offensive in the turbulent east of the country since the start of the year, with more than 7,000 people killed in two-months.