Floods swamp sections of economic capital

Heavy rains have flooded parts of Douala, a city of some two million residents and Cameroon’s economic hub. However, fewer than 500 people have been left homeless, the governor of Littoral Province, Emmanuel Eban Otong, told IRIN on Friday. He said: “The affected homes were those built illegally along the estuary” of the Wouri River that runs through the city. He also said the rains had diminished. Eban Otong refused to give further details of the situation but sources at the official newspaper, ‘Cameroon Tribune’, told IRIN at least three people had died and two had been hospitalised. They also said that the Ndogpasse Bridge just outside Douala had collapsed. The bridge links the city to the capital, Yaounde, some 199 km to the east. The secretary-general of the Cameroon Red Cross, William Eteki Mboumoua, told IRIN his organisation had evacuated flood victims to Douala’s old airport for temporary shelter and was conducting an assessment of the situation. Medical authorities have also warned of the risk of cholera and other diseases, the BBC reported on Friday. The Red Cross, local NGOs and government agencies had taken charge of the situation, so far, without international aid, the Red Cross said.