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00:00 Residents in Democratic Republic of Congo use shovels to paddle their way through flooded
00:07 streets now clogged with discarded plastic bottles and other debris.
00:11 The Congo River has risen to its highest level in more than 60 years and has caused flooding
00:17 throughout Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Congo Republic.
00:21 More than 300 people have died and 300,000 households have been affected over the past
00:26 month with tens of thousands of houses destroyed, authorities said.
00:31 Climate activist Ketsia Passou.
00:33 "As an activist, I'm not very surprised to see that the water level is rising so much.
00:38 What surprises me is the extent to which no measure is being taken for all those families
00:43 who are just suffering the effects of climate change in the form of heavy flooding."
00:48 Ferry Mowa, a hydrology specialist at the DRC Riverways Authority, said his office had
00:53 flagged the high water level in late December, warning that almost the entire flood plain
00:58 of the capital Kinshasa could be affected.
01:02 On Wednesday, the river reached over 20 feet above sea level, just shy of the 1961 record,
01:09 he told Reuters.
01:10 Several neighbourhoods in DRC's densely populated Kinshasa have flooded, as well as communities
01:15 in more than a dozen provinces, the social affairs ministry said.
01:20 Kinshasa resident Juan Sin Lukula says the government doesn't take responsibility for
01:24 the situation.
01:25 "You get the impression that people are left to their own devices, building wherever they
01:31 want, however they want.
01:33 There's no urbanization, there's nothing being done, there are no gutters planned, and even
01:38 if there are gutters, they are not maintained."
01:41 DRC's social and humanitarian affairs minister, Modeste Mutinga, told Reuters that a meeting
01:48 will be held on Thursday to evaluate further humanitarian aid.
01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]