Heavy rains and landslides have killed at least ten people in Abidjan, according to Ivory Coast officials.
According to the military’s firefighting brigade GSPM, the toll was tentative as of Friday.
“We recorded 10 deaths, nine in Yopougon and one in Cocody-Angre,” two districts of Abidjan, the country’s largest city and economic hub, Anicet Bah, GSPM captain and deputy head of operations, told AFP.
The first landslide struck the industrial zone Yopougon at 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, causing four deaths and one injury, he added.
A second landslide in the same location injured seven people and killed four others, including a child, he said.
Another body was recovered from the landslide at Attecoube-Mossikro around morning.
Closer to the city centre, in Cocody, “one person was swept away by the waters” and the body was later found by residents.
The firefighters were told another three victims had been washed away, but Bah said the operation to find them had been called off after a search that was “in vain”.
Every year, June and July bring significant rain to Ivory Coast, but hazardous building has resulted in more flood-prone places, notably in poorer neighborhoods of the expanding West African metropolis of 5.6 million people.
near mid-June, a landslide near Yopougon killed a family of five (a couple and their three children).
Last year’s rainy season, the populated district was also hit by tragedy, with six persons buried in a landslide following a night of heavy rain.
The administration stated last month that 15 youngsters have died in weather-related accidents since the beginning of the year.
