Over 50 shanties washed away in a flooding disaster at Kroo Bay in Sierra Leone

Memunatu Bangura in AllAfrica.com via the Concord Times (Freetown): As Freetown residents continue to battle with the monsoon, slum dwellers are coming worse off in the desperate human efforts to cope. Heavy rains on Wednesday swept away over fifty (50) homes, predominantly makeshift homes constructed with corrugated zinc (pan-bodies), and property worth millions of Leones at Kroo Bay community, just the back of the Prince of Wales Secondary School at Kingtom.

A victim, Salamatu Bangura, narrated that she woke up around 6:30amthat fateful day to a flooded room. She was however able to rescue her children but not quite successful in her bid to protect her property, as everything was swept away by water. "Since I have been living here for the past three years, we have not seen this type of flood and our important belongings are gone," Salamatu lamented.

According to Sinneh Kallon, he was woken up by the sound of the flood water which had taken over the house and completely destroyed his shelter.

Kallon, who has been staying in the Kroo Bay community for more than six years, complained that life has not been pretty good for them in the environment, but was quick to say that they have no alternative shelter in the city, as rents charged for houses are very high....

A street in Freetown, shot by Radamanth, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license