At least 10 people have tragically died from heavy overnight rains and subsequent flooding that swept through Guinea’s capital city of Conakry. The city’s civil protection service officially confirmed the fatalities to AFP on Thursday, while also reporting that another three people are still missing.
Several buildings collapsed under the relentless downpour, trapping local residents within the rapidly rising floodwaters, according to reports from witnesses and local media outlets. This recent loss of life adds to a previously reported government toll of 15 from the widespread flooding that has gripped the West African nation since the end of June.
The severity of the urban inundations was exacerbated by a combination of uncontrolled, haphazard construction and inadequately maintained, clogged drainage gutters. The director of Guinea’s National Agency for Emergency and Humanitarian Disaster Management, Lancei Toure, provided this critical information to AFP on Tuesday.