Pancake ice on the River Exe, Tiverton!

16 December 2022, Tiverton, Devon, UK

Pancake ice is a form of sea ice that consists of round pieces of ice with diameters ranging from 30 centimetres (12 in) to 3 metres (9.8 ft) and thicknesses up to 10 centimetres (3.9 inches), depending on the local conditions. It forms as a result of wave action on slush or ice rind.

At least 120 people have lost their lives after torrential rain caused widespread damages, landslides and flooding in the city of Kinshasa, the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

© Government of Democratic Republic of the Congo
Floods, landslides and sinkholes following heavy rain caused severe damages in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 13 December 2022.

Heavy rain fell overnight, from 12 to 13 December 2022, causing floods, landslides and sinkholes. Several municipalities in the city were affected. Dozens of houses and buildings collapsed and vehicles were left stranded. Wide stretches of road were completely destroyed, including in Mitendi, a commune to the southwest of the city, where a sinkhole wiped out the busy N1 highway which connects Kinshasa to Matadi. The road is likely to be closed for 4 to 5 days, the Prime Minister said in a statement.

Local media said never has the rain been so deadly and devastating in the city and reported damage and fatalities in several communes (municipalities) in particular Ngaliema and Mont-Ngafula. The Ministry of Health officials reported a total of more than 140 fatalities, while the Prime Minister in a statement said at least 120 people had died. Search and rescue operations are ongoing and are likely to find more victims.

Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde visited some of the affected areas on 13 December. On the instructions of the President of the Republic, the Government decreed a 3-day period of national mourning.

In a statement of 13 December, the Governor of Kinshasa, Ngobila Mbaka, offered his condolences to the families of the victims and expressed sympathy with the people who have suffered. He also stressed the need to respect planning rules banning illegal construction in drainage areas and river beds and emphasised the need to keep rivers and drainage channels free of trash and debris.

Around 20 people died in floods in the city in late November 2015

At least 37 people died after floods in Kinshasa in January 2018

Flooding struck in the city in October 2019 where 6 people died, and again in November 2019, when around 41 people died.

The death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to rise following heavy rain and extreme flooding that have ravaged the country in recent days.

At least 169 people have died as a result of destructive rains in the capital Kinshasa, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and officials said on Friday.

The flooding left another 30 people injured and pulverised an estimated 280 homes across the capital of some 15 million people, in which approximately 38,000 residents have been affected.

The city's Mont-Ngafula and Ngaliema districts were the hardest hit by the downpours, officials said.

A joint team from OCHA and the government's social affairs ministry visited affected areas on Thursday to inspect the damage.

"Today marks the end of three day of national mourning in memory of those deceased," OCHA said in a statement.

"The Government has confirmed that it will organize a dignified and secure burial of those who have lost their lives."

An estimated 8.2 million people in at least 20 different nations in west and central Africa have been affected by heavy rains in recent weeks. On Friday, the UN estimated that 2.9 million people had been displaced and more than half a million homes destroyed.

Malaysia landslide death toll rises to 24 as search for missing continues

Rescue workers on Saturday recovered the bodies of one woman and two children, taking the death toll from the horrific landslide at an unlicensed campsite in Kuala Lumpur to 24.

A landslide in Batang Kali, a popular hilly area about 50 km north of Kuala Lumpur, killed 24 people on Friday -- seven among them were children.

Reuters reported that 94 people were sleeping at the camping site when the dirt fell from a road about 100 feet above them and covered about three acres.

On Saturday, efforts were underway to rescue nearly a dozen trapped workers. Later, officials said that nine people are missing. Rescue workers also recovered the bodies of a woman and two children during the search operation.

Of the 94 people who were caught in the landslide, 61 are reportedly safe and the survivors are in stable condition, according to Malaysia's health minister, Zaliha Mustafa.

A total of 135 responders and seven rescue dogs resumed scouring through thick mud and downed trees around 8.30 am local time with the assistance of excavators, the state fire and rescue chief Norazam Khamis told reporters.

Rescuers are still searching for survivors who may have found pockets of air to cling to amid the piles of branches, rocks, and mud, local reports said.

Seven people were taken to the hospital on Friday, and dozens more were rescued unharmed. A mother and her toddler were found on Friday hugging each other in a heart-rending scene, rescuers told the media.

Rescue teams worked on Saturday to comb through debris as deep as 26 feet.

The landslide reportedly covered about three acres, and estimates suggest it may have involved about 16 million cubic feet of debris - enough to fill nearly 180 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

While the cause of the disaster remains unknown, experts speculate it may have been due to underground water movement and unstable soil during the monsoon rains.

"We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us. Luckily, I was able to leave the tent and go to some place safer. My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves," 22-year-old Teh Lynn Xuan, who was camping with several others at the site when the landslide struck, told Channel News Asia.

The campground is a popular recreational site and had reportedly been operating illegally for the last two years, despite only having permission to run the farm.

Following the disaster, the Malaysian government has ordered all campsites near rivers, waterfalls, and hillsides to be closed for a week for safety assessments.

Prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has said RM10,000 (£1861.35) will be given to the families of those who died.