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Background and Details of the Disaster
The 2019–2020 Congo River floods resulted from torrential rains from October 2019 to January 2020 that caused the overflow of the Congo river and Ubangi river, floods and landslides throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo (RoC) and led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

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 DRC were Nord-Ubangi, Sud-Ubangi, Mongala, Equateur, and Tshopo, and the most affected in RoC were Likouala, Cuvette, Plateaux and Brazzaville. Many villages and homes were damaged or completely destroyed and the flooding led to severe damage of infrastructure and blocked access to water, food, schools and health services. The flood was a 1-in-50-year occurrence. By December 2019, the Congo River carried 70 000 cubic meters of water per second past Kinshasa, DRC and delivered vast quantities of sand and mud. More than 400 000 people were displaced out of at least 923,000 affected in the DRC and several hundred houses were flooded in the Kinshasa. Those affected suffered of severe deprivation due to the flood such as loosing their homes and property, livelihoods, crops and agricultural land. The displaced population were relocated into other homes, makeshift shelters and public places such as schools.

Geographical and Physical Impacts
Both the DRC and RoC have historically experienced recurrent flooding along the Congo River 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 is expected to be increasingly impacted by climate change over the coming years. Temperatures are expected to rise and rainfall quantity and its distribution across the seasons are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with discharge volume from rivers increasing during the rainy season. As a result, potentially damaging and life-threatening natural disasters driven by river and urban floods are likely to occur across provinces of the RoC and DRC during the next 10 years. The heavy rains between October 2019 to January 2020 constituted the worst and most complex natural disaster experienced in the region for the last 20-25 years. The event has been attributed to climate change; however, it was exacerbated by poor drainage and infrastructure in those areas worst impacted. More than 100 villages were submerged with homes destroyed along the departments of Likouala, Cuvette and Plateaux within the RoC, impacting around 170,000 of the most vulnerable of the population of which around 30,000 were refugees. Government figures in the DRC estimated that over 923,000 people were affected by the flooding events, many displaced having lost their homes and livelihoods and subject to an increased risk of transmission of waterborne diseases due to inadequate hygiene measures. In the DRC capital city of Kinshasa, more than 41 people were killed by flash floods and landslides between 25-26 November 2019, which destroyed roads, bridges, and hundreds of homes, displacing around 400,00 people. Further damage occurred in the capital of the RoC during the week of 7 January 2020 with heavy rain causing major damage to infrastructure across the city. Around 6,302 hectares of agricultural fields were destroyed over the period, which caused substantial loss of crop and livestock. Food production from cassava fields, in addition to losses across breeding and fishing industries, depleted food reserves and raised food security concerns given most agricultural produce is rain-fed and carried out by small-holder farmers.

Initial response
On November 19th 2019, the government of the RoC declared a humanitarian disaster and state of emergency in the departments of Likoula, Cuvette and Plateux, while seeking assistance from the international community. Between the 14th and 18th of December 2019, a rapid humanitarian assessment was undertaken by the RoC national government and the United Nations. Access problems and minimal operational presence hampered coordination efforts. A UN report suggested the government had limited capacity to deal with the emergency and 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.

Local

 * Civil Protection, an agency of the Ministry of Social Affairs
 * The Water Hygiene and Sanitation Technical Committee
 * Congolese Red Cross

United Nations

 * Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
 * World Food Program (WFP)
 * United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
 * Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
 * UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
 * United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA)
 * United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA)

Financial assistance

 * Government of the RoC
 * UN Agencies (various)
 * Red Cross Disaster Relief Emergency Fund
 * Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission
 * Government of Canada Emergency Disaster Assistance Fund
 * United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
 * Chinese cooperation

United Nations response plan
The strategic objective was to “preserve the lives of populations affected by floods, covering their basic necessities through emergency humanitarian assistance”. The following needs were identified and strategies formulated:

UN identified needs and budget estimates
CERF placed a high priority to the protection of women, girls and minorities with UNFPA, UNICEF and FAO also focusing on equitable access to services and protection.

Success of UN response
In a CERF report covering the response up to 12th August 2020, a disappointing $12m had been disbursed of an updated $42.4m required. Nevertheless, CERF estimates that nearly 250 000 people received direct assistance, while another 190 000 benefited indirectly.

Health Consequences
In addition to experiencing outward and inward migration, floods have a wide range of indirect health consequences, including psychological stress, destruction of health infrastructure, and contamination.

Immediate
The populations affected by he Congo River floods faced numerous immediate health challenges as a result. Homes, property and livelihoods were lost or negatively affected. Crops and agricultural land were severely impacted too, leading to increased risk of food insecurity. This has led to large scale population displacement and therefore the risk of waterborne disease increased due to poor hygiene conditions and difficulty accessing safe water. Hospitals, schools and public buildings were, in many cases, flooded and thus, severely affecting access to basic services.

Longer Term
These floods have heightened the vulnerability of populations who were already facing challenges reaching their daily basic needs. Fears have been raised that the floods will lead to a large-scale expansion of the current cholera outbreak in the DRC. Besides, fear of outbreak of gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, poisoning, communicable diseases, and other epidemic diseases such as diarrhea, and dengue fever.

Over 923,000 people had been affected by the floods as of mid-December in the DRC per government data and 170,000 people in the RoC, per the UN in the places like Likouala, Cuvette, and Plateaux. This induced psychological stress and other mental health issues. Also, reports on food insecurity in 2020 indicated that the number of individuals in the DRC who are severely food insecure has increased, reaching 21.8 million.

Other health outcomes sue to loss of health infrastructure and shortage of safe waters as in flooded districts, water sources were damaged and the risk of waterborne infections has increased due to overflowing sewage systems.

Mortality Numbers
At least 41 people were killed in Kinshasa due to landslides. 17 fatalities were reported around the Mont Nfagula commune and the communes of Lemba and Cite Universitaire were also affected having reported at least 15 fatalities. Heavy floods beginning earlier in October 2019 left at least 6 fatalities in Kinshasa.