At least 10 people killed in heavy rains in Ivory Coast

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 provisional as of Friday.

Anicet Bah, GSPM captain and deputy head of operations, told AFP, “We recorded 10 deaths, nine in Yopougon and one in Cocody-Angre,” two districts of Abidjan, the country’s largest city and economic hub.

The first landslip struck the industrial zone Yopougon around 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, causing four deaths and one injury, he added.

In the same area, he said, a second landslip injured seven people and killed four, including a child.

Another body was recovered from the landslip near Attecoube-Mossikro at dawn.

Closer to the city centre, in Cocody, “the waters swept away one person”, and the body was later discovered.

The firefighters were told that three more victims had been washed away, but Bah said the search had been called off after an “in vain” search.

Every year, June and July bring heavy rain to the Ivory Coast. Nonetheless, shaky construction has resulted in more flood-prone areas, particularly in poorer areas of the expanding West African metropolis, which is home to an estimated 5.6 million people.

A family of five, a couple and their three children, died in a landslip in Yopougon in mid-June.

Last year’s rainy season, the populous district was also hit by tragedy when six people were buried in a landslip following a night of heavy rain.

The government reported last month that 15 children had died in weather-related incidents since the beginning of the year.