Why Kinshasa keeps flooding – and why it’s not just about the rain

By Gode Bola, Lecturer in Hydrology, University of Kinshasa
Mark Trigg, Professor of Water Risk, University of Leeds
Raphaël Tshimanga, Director of the Regional School of Water and the Congo Basin Water Resources Research Center (CRREBaC), University of Kinshasa

The April 2025 flooding disaster in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wasn’t just about intense rainfall. It was a symptom of recent land use change which has occurred rapidly in the city, turning it into a sprawling urban settlement without the necessary drainage infrastructure.

Local rains combined with runoff from torrential rains coming from neighbouring Congo Central Province quickly overwhelmed the city’s small…

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