AT LEAST 15 people were killed and more than 50 injured in floods set off by heavy rains in Cameroon’s capital, authorities said today.

Heavy rains unleashed flood waters in the district of Yaounde 2 of the country’s capital on Sunday, sweeping away buildings and reducing many to rubble.

Rescue workers are still digging through the mud and rubble “with the hope of saving lives,” Daouda Ousmanou, the top government official in the district, said yesterday.

Floods have been frequent in Cameroon in recent years, with experts often blaming the climate emergency, with the impact made worse by shoddy construction that ignores building regulations set down by the authorities.

In the city’s Mbankolo neighbourhood, at least 30 houses were swept away while several collapsed on residents inside, Mr Ousmanou said. 

Others drowned as they were swept away by floodwaters.

University student Ernest Zebaze said he had managed to identify the bodies of his mother and two siblings but added that he was “still looking for my father who was in the house during the downpour.”

Bodies of the victims have been laid out at a morgue while the injured were rushed to hospitals. The Yaounde General Hospital said it received 12 injured.