Torrential rains flood Freetown, leaving 6 dead
By Mohamed Konneh/WADR Correspondent
Flooding caused by torrential rains has killed six people, including two children in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, hospital and Red Cross sources confirmed Friday evening.
West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) Freetown Correspondent says the heavy downpour of rain lasted for over 30 hours.
Four of the flood victims were killed in the early hours of Friday morning, after a huge boulder gave way at Congo Town in the west of hilly Sierra Leonean capital, crushing them in their zinc shack.
A child and a teenager were also killed in the New England neighbourhood, as a result of a mudslide.
Our Correspondent says this is not the first incident of its kind in Freetown during the rainy season where lives are lost, because of poor housing in some communities and faulty planning of the city.
President mourns loss of mother
Meanwhile, the mother of President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone has died in Freetown at age 80.
Mrs. Alice Rosaline Koroma passed away suddenly on Thursday night.
Observers say the death of President Koroma’s mother will be a monumental blow to the Sierra Leonean leader, because apart from the psychological and emotional trauma and ripples usually caused by the death of a parent, she was said to be a big inspiration to him and they were very close.
According to family members, Mrs Koroma suffered a heart attack during at night and died shortly after.
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