At least 15 people have died and hundreds have been forced to leave their homes due to severe flooding in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, the country’s interior minister said. “Torrential rains triggered severe flooding across Abidjan yesterday night and killed 15 people, washed away houses and displaced hundreds of families,” Sidiki Diakite told journalists on Tuesday. About 115 people have been rescued and are in shelters. “I broke the ceiling and called my neighbour for help. He came to bring the children out of the roof,” said Kadidiatou Diallo, one of the survivors. Emergency agencies continued the search for more casualties on Tuesday as the heavy rains persisted and the armed forces had been deployed to assist the effort, the minister said. Many roads in Abidjan remained flooded on Tuesday, with sinkholes forming beneath some streets. Several days of heavy rain and subsequent flooding left seven people dead in Abidjan in 2017. Ivory Coast is in the middle of its rainy season and meteorologists have forecast heavy rains until late June.
