FREETOWN, Aug 30, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Eight people have been killed and more
than 800 displaced by torrential rain and a landslide in Sierra Leone's
capital Freetown, authorities said Monday, warning of further damage as rains
continue.

The downpours hit the city over the weekend, causing a landslide Sunday in
Looking Town area.

Four men, one woman and a seven-year-old girl died in the landslide,
according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).

Two men were also killed in the Mount Aureol and Blackhall Road
neighbourhoods when fences collapsed onto buildings, the agency said.

In the Colbert community, more than 800 people were displaced by flash
flooding, Mohammed Bah, a NDMA spokesman, told AFP.

"The landslide was due to the heavy rain, no doubt, but also a combination of
illegal human activities", Bah said.

"People are cutting down trees, tampering with the forest cover... The
mudslide that occurred is mainly a result of the fact that people are
building (houses) beyond demarcated zones."

Authorities have asked residents to evacuate the disaster area in Looking
Town, which is surrounded by hills, due to a "very big boulder" that is
poised to fall, Bah said.

President Julius Maada Bio blamed the disaster partly on climate change.

"The heavy downpour experienced this August points to the impact and
consequence of global warming and climate change", he tweeted on Sunday
night.

"But years of poor urban planning and mismanagement of the city's resources
are an enormous contributor to flooding across Freetown".

Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, who visited the flood victims, warned that
more extreme events could be expected due to climate change.

"This is something we all need to be aware of," she said.

She cited a 2019 study showing that 85 percent of buildings lacked permits
and said more needed to be done to raise awareness and stop people cutting
down trees or blocking drainage channels.

Sierra Leone is regularly hit by floods and landslides that have affected
hundreds of thousands of people and caused severe economic damage over the
past 20 years, according to the World Bank.

The West African country's rainy season typically lasts from May to October.

- Deforestation -

Sierra Leoneans this month marked the fifth anniversary of a devastating
mudslide that killed more than 1,000 in Freetown's Regent district.

On August 14, 2017, part of the Sugar Loaf mountain detached and slid onto
informal settlements, crushing shacks and enveloping entire households in red
mud.

Experts fear it could happen again.

"Continued deforestation for charcoal burning and building houses in mountain
slopes may likely be the main causes for the next mudslide disaster if urgent
steps are not taken", Anthony Toban Davies, head of the environmental
management company Ecosys Sierra Leone Limited, told AFP.

The Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency said better equipment, such as radar,
flood forecasting software and trained meteorological technicians, is needed
to prevent future mudslides.

After the 2017 disaster, the government reacted by planting some 2,200 mango,
banana, avocado and moringa trees.

It set up the National Disaster Management Agency in 2020 and has been
cracking down on illegal housing on mountainsides.

"We have 60 disaster-prone settlements in slums and mountain areas within
Freetown, and we are working on sustainable mitigation measures through
awareness raising mechanisms," the agency's deputy director, John Rogers, had
told AFP this month.