Emergency commission to deliver aid to Angola storm victims

An emergency commission will deliver aid to victims of devastating rains that struck the Angolan capital Luanda at the weekend, leaving at least 18 people dead in the worst storms in recent years, AFP reported on Tuesday. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos created the commission to deliver aid to victims of the storm, which hit the capital Luanda as well as several provinces. The storm left 18 people dead and two missing in Luanda's sprawling shantytowns, where some 356 homes were destroyed and another 100 lost their roofs, according to the city government. The storm left several rural districts and the industrial town of Cacuaco, 20 km from Luanda, cut off from the rest of the country after bridges and roads were washed away. In Benguela Province, rains flooded the Caporolo River and destroyed 4,700 hectares of crops, both on large plantations and on small farms near the town of Dombe Grande, the provincial government said in a statement. Some 17,400 people lost their homes in Benguela, 700 km to the southwest, because of the rains, the privately owned Luanda Commercial Antenna radio reported. Meanwhile, 31 people died in torrential rains in Namibe, 1,200 km southwest of Luanda, the radio report added.