STORY: A local civil society member said 227 bodies had been found.

The rainfall in Kalehe territory in South Kivu province caused rivers to overflow on Thursday, inundating the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi.

Floods and landslides are not uncommon in South Kivu, which shares a border with Rwanda. Heavy rains also triggered flooding and landslides in Rwanda this week, killing 130 people and destroying more than 5,000 homes.

The last incident of a similar scale in Congo occurred in October 2014, when heavy rainfall destroyed over 700 homes. More than 130 people were reported missing at the time, according to the United Nations.