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18 die in mudslide, heavy flooding in Freetown






Mudslide. File photo
At least 18 people were killed in a mudslide and heavy flooding that hit Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, on Monday, a Red Cross official told AFP.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw bodies being carried away and houses submerged in mud in two areas of the city, where roads were turned into churning rivers of mud and corpses washed up on the streets.
Images shared by local media showed people waist-deep trying to traverse streets of flowing water, while a section of a hill in the Regent area was reported to have collapsed.
Flooding is an annual menace in Sierra Leone, where unsafe housing is regularly swept away by torrential rains.

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