The 2019–2020 Congo River floods resulted from torrential rains from October 2019 to January 2020 that caused the overflow of the Congo and

Ubangi river The Ubangi River (; ; ; ), also spelled Oubangui, is a river in Central Africa, and the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou River, Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mea ...

s, floods and landslides throughout the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(DRC) and

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

(RoC) and led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Background

The DRC and RoC have historically experienced recurrent flooding along the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

and its main tributaries during the rainy season, causing erosion and landslides, and negatively impacting human settlements, agriculture, and public health. The Congo River, situated within the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin () is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the larg ...

, is expected to be increasingly impacted by

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

as temperatures rise and rainfall increases both in intensity and seasonal duration.

Floods

From October 2019 to January 2020, heavy rains affected 16 of the 26 provinces of the DRC and eight out of 12 departments of the RoC. The most affected provinces in the DRC were

Nord-Ubangi Nord-Ubangi (French for "North Ubangi") is one of the 21 newest provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Nord-Ubangi, Équateur, Mongala, Sud-Ubangi, and Tshuapa provinces are the result of the dis ...

Sud-Ubangi Sud-Ubangi (French for "South Ubangi") is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. It lies in the northwest of the country on the Ubangi River. Sud-Ubangi, Équateur, Mongala, Nord-Uba ...

Mongala Mongala is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Mongala, Équateur, Nord-Ubangi, Sud-Ubangi, and Tshuapa provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Équateur pro ...

, Equateur, and

Tshopo Tshopo is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. It is situated in the north central part of the country on the Tshopo River, for which it is named. Tshopo, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, ...

, and the most affected in the RoC were Likouala,

Cuvette In laboratories, a cuvette () is a small tube-like container with straight sides and a circular or square cross-section. It is sealed at one end, and made of a clear, transparent material such as plastic, glass, or fused quartz. Cuvettes are des ...

, Plateaux and

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

. By December 2019, the Congo carried 70,000 cubic meters of water per second (2.5 million cu ft/s) past

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

, the capital of the DRC. In January 2020, the flooding resulted in the longest

turbidity current A turbidity current is most typically an Ocean current, underwater current of usually rapidly moving, sediment-laden water moving down a slope; although current research (2018) indicates that water-saturated sediment may be the primary actor in ...

recorded, when approximately of sand and mud descended for underwater over two days, traveling from the mouth of the Congo River, through the Congo Canyon and across the ocean floor. The current damaged two

submarine communications cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables were laid beginning in the 1850s and car ...

s, slowing internet traffic between

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Impact

The floods were the most severe to impact the region in the last 20 years. The event has been attributed to climate change; however, it was exacerbated by poor drainage and infrastructure. In the RoC, more than 100 villages were submerged with homes destroyed along the departments of Likouala, Cuvette and Plateaux, impacting around 170,000 of the most vulnerable of the population, of which around 30,000 were refugees. Significant damage occurred in the capital of the RoC, Brazzaville, in January 2020 with heavy rain causing major damage to infrastructure across the city. Around of farmland were destroyed in the RoC. Government figures in the DRC estimated that over 923,000 people were affected by the flooding, of whom more than 400,000 were displaced. Over 41 people were killed in Kinshasa in November 2019 by flash floods and landslides that destroyed roads, bridges, and hundreds of homes.

Response

On November 19, 2019, the government of the RoC declared a humanitarian disaster and state of emergency in the departments of Likouala, Cuvette and Plateaux, while seeking assistance from the international community. A rapid humanitarian assessment was undertaken by the RoC national government and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in December 2019. Access problems and minimal operational presence hampered coordination efforts. A UN report suggested the government had limited capacity to deal with the emergency and that there was insufficient human and financial resources to ensure coverage of those affected. The United Nations Emergency Relief Fund was rapidly deployed and local responsibility for coordination was assigned to the RoC's Ministry of Social Affairs and Humanitarian Action. Numerous local and international organizations responded to the disaster. Local organizations included Civil Protection, an agency of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Water Hygiene and Sanitation Technical Committee, the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congolese Red Cross. United Nations agencies included the

Central Emergency Response Fund The Central Emergency Response Fund (, CERF/FCIU) is a humanitarian fund established by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 December 2005 and launched in March 2006. With CERF's objectives to 1) promote early action and response to reduce ...

(CERF),

World Food Program The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961, ...

(WFP),

United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to childre ...

(UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),

UN Refugee Agency The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, lo ...

(UNHCR), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA). Various organizations also provided financial assistance, including the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

Disaster Relief Emergency Fund Humanitarian Aid Department of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, Government of Canada Emergency Disaster Assistance Fund and the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

(USAID).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Congo River floods, 2019-2020 2010s floods in Africa 2019 floods 2020 floods in Africa Natural disasters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2019 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2020 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2019 disasters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2020 disasters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2019 disasters in the Republic of the Congo 2020 disasters in the Republic of the Congo