KINSHASA — At least 120 people are dead after heavy rains in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the government, the DPA reported.

The rainfall caused major flooding and landslides on Tuesday night in parts of Kinshasa, a metropolis of about 15 million residents.

Interior Minister Daniel Aselo said that numerous people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals.

Rescue workers continued to search for survivors and bodies on Wednesday in the areas hit by flooding and landslides. President Felix Tshisekedi called on his Cabinet to act quickly in response to the disaster.

According to the Red Cross, heavy rains had washed away entire houses in the Mont-Ngafula and Ngaliema districts of Kinshasa.

Numerous roads in the country were flooded, including National Road No. 1, a key trade route to Angola.

Kinshasa's 24 neighborhoods were affected according to local officials. Some 15 million people live in Congolese city. Many of whom now grieve loved ones.

"Around 4:15 a.m. we woke up, the water had gotten into the house," Robert a relative of a deceased recounted.

"We tried to channel the water elsewhere after we noticed that there was more danger.

“We went back to the house to sleep since we were soaked with the cold, we went back to bed, and just after, the wall collapsed on the children and the parents and on a neighbor, who was passing by. In total, nine people died."

In addition to submerging houses, the torrential rains ruined many roads. A landslide in the southern Mont-Ngafula district cut off a key supply route linking the capital with the Atlantic Ocean port of Matadi.

Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said officials were still searching for more bodies.

"We came to assess the damage and the primary damage we see is human," Lukonde said on state television Tuesday.

Tshisekedi who's attending the USA-Africa Summit in Washington sent his deepest condolences to the bereaved families.

In a tweet, he asked "the national and provincial governments to come to" the aid of the most vulnerable and " to accelerate the work of rainwater drainage to prevent this type of disaster from happening again".

In the Ngaliema area, more than three dozen people died and bodies are still being counted, said the area's mayor, Alid’or Tshibanda. In another part of town five members of one family were killed, some by electrocution.

Officials said much of the destruction happened in houses built on plots without official permission. "They have no documents. They are chased away but they always come back," said Dieumerci Mayibazilwanga, the mayor of Mont-Ngafula, of people building unauthorized houses.

In 2019, flooding and landslides killed at least 32 in and around Kinshasa. — Agencies