Paulin Bolumbu thought his family lived a safe distance from the Congo River, but in November the water overran its banks by more than half a kilometer, inundating his corrugated iron house. “The river often bursts its banks but it never came up to this level,” said Bolumbu, clambering across wooden planks he had installed to create a makeshift floor above the floodwater for the family’s beds and clothing. A television and radio were stacked higher still atop a wooden cabinet. Democratic Republic of Congo is one of several central African countries to be hit by severe flooding in recent months, which researchers have attributed to increasingly intense and unpredictable weather linked to global warming. Flooding in November in the capital Kinshasa led to landslides that killed 39 people. The rains can be deadly in other ways, too. Henry Bofason said two of his children died […]