FREETOWN: Rescue workers resumed the grim task on Tuesday (Aug 15) of pulling bodies from destroyed houses and muddy pools in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, where more than 300 people have died in flooding and mudslides.

The government has promised relief to the more than 3,000 people left homeless, opening an emergency response centre in the hilltop community of Regent, while Israel said it was sending aid as quickly as possible to the stricken west African city.

Registration centres to count the homeless were due to open across Freetown, a city of around one million people, while Interior Minister Paolo Conteh warned via Sierra Leone's state broadcaster that thousands of people remained missing.

Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi told AFP on Monday that the death toll was 312 but this is expected to rise further as his team assess disaster areas in Freetown and tally the number of dead.

President Ernest Bai Koroma appealed for unity from a nation still struggling with the legacy of Ebola and a long civil war in an address to the nation on Monday.

"Our nation has once again been gripped by grief. Many of our compatriots have lost their lives, many more have been gravely injured and billions of leones' worth of property destroyed in the flooding and landslides that swept across some parts of our city," he said.

"Every single family, every single ethnic group, every single region is either directly or indirectly affected by this disaster."

Three days of torrential rain culminated on Monday in a mudslide in Regent, the worst affected area, and caused massive flooding elsewhere in the city, one of the world's wettest urban areas.

Informal settlements that cling to the hills and shores were swept away or torn apart, and the city's drainage system was quickly overwhelmed, leaving stagnant water pooling in some areas and creating dangerous churning waterways down steep streets.

"In places, entire communities seem to have been washed away and whatever is left is covered in mud," said Abdul Nasir, programme coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

He described Red Cross volunteers "digging with their bare hands and whatever tools (were) available to find survivors".

The Sierra Leone meteorological department did not issue any warning ahead of the torrential rains to hasten evacuation from the disaster zones, AFP's correspondent based in Freetown said.

Israel's foreign ministry said it would provide "assistance immediately and in every way possible" including clean water, medicines, blankets, while EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides said the European Union "stands ready to help", without elaborating.

The scale of the human cost was clear at the city's main morgue at the Connaught Hospital, which was overwhelmed with bodies on Monday, while residents spoke of their struggles to cope with the destruction and find their loved ones.

An AFP journalist saw several homes submerged in Regent village, a hilltop community, and corpses floating in the water in the Lumley West area of the city.

Deputy Information Minister Cornelius Deveaux confirmed on Monday that Koroma had declared a national emergency, and said his own boss, Information Minister Mohamed Bangura, was in hospital after being injured in the flooding.

Deveaux said hundreds of people had lost their lives and had properties damaged, and promised food and other assistance for the victims.

Freetown is hit each year by flooding during several months of rain, raising the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera.

Flooding in the capital in 2015 killed 10 people and left thousands homeless.

Sierra Leone was one of the west African nations hit by an outbreak of the Ebola virus in 2014 that left more than 4,000 people dead in the country, and it has struggled to revive its economy since the crisis.

The country ranked 179th out of 188 countries on the UNDP's 2016 Human Development Index, a basket of data combining life expectancy, education and income and other factors.</s>Massive mudslides on the outskirts of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, have claimed at least 350 lives, including 100 children.

Local media have reported more than 350 unidentified bodies are now in the morgue of the city's largest hospital.

The death toll is expected to rise after more than 1000 homes were buried in mud after a hillside collapsed in heavy rain on Monday with residents believed to be trapped inside, the Sierra Leone Telegraph reports.

A Health Ministry source spoke of up to 500 deaths, while vice president Victor Foh told journalists, "It is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble."

Red Cross spokesman Abu Bakar Tarrawellie had earlier said the initial death toll stood at 205, but it was likely the number would climb, with rescue efforts ongoing and 600 people missing.

"The landslide has stopped. But the area is very disaster prone. It is still a considerable threat to anyone. So we encourage anyone to leave [the area]," Tarrawellie said. "The recovery is a huge challenge."

Volunteers could be seen in the neighbourhood of Lumley helping to extricate mangled bodies with their bare hands. The sound of sirens could be heard everywhere, though flooded roads hindered rescue work.

Photos published in the Sierra Leone Telegraph show people wading through streets of thick muddy water reaching up to their hips.

© RAW 2017</s>FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The Red Cross estimates that 600 people are still missing as the death toll from massive mudslides in Sierra Leone’s capital is certain to rise.

Bodies have begun washing up on a beach in Freetown. Workers continue to search for an untold number of people buried in their homes.

Authorities say more than 300 people were killed in and around Freetown on Monday following heavy rains. Many were trapped under tons of mud as they slept.</s>FREETOWN: Rescue workers have recovered nearly 400 bodies from a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, the chief coroner said on Tuesday, as morgues struggled to find space for all the dead.

Dozens of houses were buried when a mountainside collapsed in the town of Regent on Monday morning - one of the deadliest natural disasters in Africa in recent years.

President Ernest Bai Koroma urged residents of Regent and other flooded areas around Freetown to evacuate immediately so that military personnel and other rescue workers could continue to search for survivors who might be buried underneath debris.

"As the search continues, we have collected nearly 400 bodies - but we anticipate more than 500," chief coroner Seneh Dumbuya told Reuters.

Hundreds of other people are missing, aid agencies said.

Bodies continued to arrive at Freetown's overwhelmed central morgue on Tuesday. Corpses were lying on the floor and on the ground outside for lack of room, a Reuters witness said.

"Our problem here is space. We are trying to separate, quantify, and examine quickly and then we will issue death certificates before the burial," said Owiz Koroma, head of the morgue, who also estimated the death toll to be in the hundreds.

To relieve pressure on the morgue, authorities and aid agencies were preparing to bury the bodies in four different cemeteries across Freetown, said Idalia Amaya, an emergency response coordinator for Catholic Relief Services.

The burials are expected to take place on Thursday, government spokesman Cornelius Deveaux said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres is providing hundreds of body bags to authorities that the medical charity kept in Sierra Leone after the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak which killed 4,000 people in the former British colony.

Sierra Red Cross Society spokesman Abu Bakarr Tarawallie said by phone he estimated that at least 3,000 people were homeless and in need of shelter, medical assistance and food. The Red Cross said another 600 were missing.

"We are also fearful of outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Freetown. "We can only hope that this does not happen."

Contaminated water and water-logging often lead to potentially deadly diseases like cholera and diarrhoea after floods and mudslides.

Crowds of people gathered, waiting for news of missing family members.

"I've been looking for my aunt and her two children, but so far no word about them," said a tearful Mohamed Jalloh. He said he feared the worst.

President Koroma said in a television address on Monday evening that rescue centres had been set up around the capital to register and assist victims.

Bulldozers dug through mud and rubble at the foot of Mount Sugar Loaf, where many residents had been asleep when part of the mountainside collapsed. The government said a number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area.</s>The desperate dig for survivors is resuming in Sierra Leone’s capital, after mudslides and floods claimed the lives of more than 300 people.

Their homes in Freetown were engulfed after part of Sugar Loaf mountain collapsed following heavy rain early on Monday morning.

Many of the victims were still asleep in their beds when disaster struck.

Vice-President Victor Foh has warned the final death toll may be far higher.

Another 3,000 people are estimated to have lost their homes.

Ishmeal Charles, a charity worker for the Healey Relief Foundation and Caritas Freetown, told the BBC words could not do justice to the scale of the tragedy.

“Of course you will see a huge number of people crying with those who have lost their family members,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to paint what the reality looks like, because it’s more scary and very sad and disastrous than anyone can be able to describe.”

In the worst hit area, the Regent district, where dozens of houses were submerged when the hillside collapsed at about 06:00 GMT, those who survived spoke of the family members they had lost – or still hoped to find alive.

“My wife is dead. My children are all dead. This morning my children and I talked before I left for work. One of them even chose the socks I should put on,” a man called Malikie told the BBC.

Another woman, called Adama, said she was still searching for her baby.

“We were inside. We heard the mudslide approaching. We were trying to flee. I attempted to grab my baby but the mud was too fast. She was covered, alive.

“I have not seen my husband, Alhaji. My baby was just seven weeks old.”

Mohamed Sinneh, a morgue technician at Freetown’s Connaught Hospital, told news agency AFP he had counted more than 300 bodies on Monday – and said more had been taken to private morgues.

Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi told the news agency that 312 people were confirmed dead and warned the toll could rise further.

Fatmata Sesay, who lives on the hilltop area of Juba, managed to survive the mudslide after she and her family were woken by the pounding rain.

It was then they realised their home was submerged in water.

“I only managed to escape by climbing to the roof of the house when neighbours came in to rescue me,” she told AFP.

“We have lost everything and we do not have a place to sleep.”

In a televised address, President Ernest Bai Koroma urged people to stay away from the affected areas.

“This tragedy of great magnitude has once again challenged us to come together, to stand by each other and to help one another,” he said.

“Let me assure you that my government is fully engaged on this situation and in collaboration with our development partners we have already established an emergency response centre at Regent to coordinate our response and to provide relief to the survivors.”

Flooding is not unusual in Sierra Leone, where unsafe housing in makeshift settlements can be swept away by heavy rains.

The rains often hit areas in and around Freetown, an overcrowded coastal city of more than one million people.

In 2015, Freetown endured deadly floods sparked by monsoon rains that killed 10 people and left thousands more homeless.</s>Image caption People may have been asleep when mudslides occurred

More than 300 people have been killed in mudslides and flooding near Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.

A hillside in the Regent area collapsed early on Monday following heavy rains, leaving many houses covered in mud.

A BBC reporter at the scene said many people may have been asleep when the mudslide occurred.

The number of casualties is expected to rise. Locals were reportedly trying to recover bodies from the rubble and mud with their bare hands.

The worst-hit area is thought to be the Regent district on the outskirts of Freetown, where dozens of houses were submerged when the hillside collapsed at about 06:00 GMT.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Heavy rains have flooded Freetown's streets

Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi told AFP news agency that 312 were confirmed dead and warned the toll could rise further.

Another spokesman for the Red Cross, Abubakarr Tarawallie, told the BBC that at least 100 properties had been submerged and that some had collapsed after a section of Sugar Loaf mountain came down.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption People in Regent were wading through streets waist-deep in muddy water

A Sierra Leonean disaster management official, Candy Rogers, said that "over 2,000 people are homeless" as a result of the mudslide in the Regent area, AFP reports.

Mr Rogers said a huge humanitarian effort will be required to deal with the aftermath of the flooding.

At the scene: Search for loved ones

By Umaru Fofana, BBC Africa

People are wailing uncontrollably; one woman told me she had lost more than 11 members of her family in the disaster, while another man said he had lost his wife, mother-in-law and children.

Hundreds of people are still coming to the area to look for their loved ones. Some of them told me they have not been able to find them.

In fact, there is no sign of the dozens of homes that were built at the foot of Sugar Loaf mountain.

They are covered in mud, with large areas of mire in some parts. It looks strong, but it is flaky. The concern is that if people walk there they risk sinking in the mud.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption BBC Weather's Tomasz Schafernaker explains why Sierra Leone has been hit with torrential rain and mudslides.

Images posted on Twitter show people wading through streets, waist-deep in muddy water following the downpour in and around Freetown.

Flooding is not unusual in Sierra Leone, where unsafe housing in makeshift settlements can be swept away by heavy rains.

The rains often hit areas in and around Freetown, an overcrowded coastal city of more than one million people.

In 2015, Freetown endured deadly floods sparked by monsoon rains that killed 10 people and left thousands more homeless.</s>Rescue workers have recovered 270 bodies so far from a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, the mayor said on Tuesday.

Freetown mayor, Sam Gibson, told reporters that rescue operations continue in the town of Regent where the mudslide happened on Monday morning.

Vice President of Sierra Leone Victor Foh said on Monday that it was likely that hundreds were lying dead underneath the rubble.

Mr. Foh told Reuters at the scene of the mudslide in the mountain town of Regent that a number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area.

“The disaster is so serious that I myself feel broken,” he added.

“We’re trying to cordon (off) the area (and) evacuate the people.”

The mudslide happened in the early morning in Regent, where dozens of houses were submerged after a night of heavy rain.

A major rescue operation is now underway although emergency workers are struggling to reach the worst-affected areas.

Mudslides and floods are fairly common during the rainy season in West Africa, where deforestation and poor town planning put residents at risk.</s>FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed when a mudslide struck the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital on Monday, Vice President Victor Foh said.

The Red Cross put the number of bodies so far at the central morgue in the capital, Freetown, at 179.

Earlier, an official at the morgue at Connaught Hospital in Freetown said it had received 70 bodies and police and soldiers were bringing in more.

The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are recovered, Red Cross spokesman Abu Bakarr Tarawallie said.

"It is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble," Foh said the mountain town of Regent. He said a number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area.

"The disaster is so serious that I myself feel broken," he said. "We're trying to cordon the area. Evacuate the people."

Mudslides and floods are fairly common during the rainy season in West Africa, where deforestation and poor town planning has put residents at risk.</s>Hundreds of people are feared dead after devastating mudslide on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a mudslide on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.

Heavy rains overnight submerged dozens of homes, and possibly hundreds are underneath the rubble, according to Victor Foh, vice president of the West African country.

A number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area hit by the mudslide, and images obtained by AFP news agency showed a ferocious churning of dark orange mud coursing down a steep street, while videos posted by local residents showed people waist and chest-deep in water trying to cross the road.

Military personnel have been deployed to help in the rescue operation, officials said.

Many of the impoverished areas of Freetown are close to sea level and have poor drainage systems, exacerbating flooding during the rainy season.</s>Heavy flooding and mudslide hit outskirts of capital Freetown, leaving hospitals struggling to cope.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, officials and witnesses say.

Sierra Leone Vice President Victor Foh has said many people are still buried underneath the debris.

"It is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble," Foh told Reuters news agency at the scene of Monday's mudslide in the mountain town of Regent.

He said a number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area hit by the mudslide.

"The disaster is so serious that I myself feel broken," he said. "We're trying to cordon [off] the area (and) evacuate the people."

Rescue workers were trying to reach those trapped, after buildings were submerged in two areas of the city.

Ishmeal Alfred Charles of the Healey International Relief Foundation, Freetown, described the situation as "disastrous", saying that many houses have been "wiped away" by the rushing mudslide.

Bodies were spread out on the floor of a morgue, Sinneh Kamara, a coroner technician at the Connaught Hospital mortuary, told the national broadcaster, the Sierra Leone National Broadcasting Corp.

"The capacity at the mortuary is too small for the corpses," he said.

Kamara urged the health department to deploy more ambulances, saying his mortuary only has four.

Sierra Leone's national television broadcaster interrupted its regular programming to show scenes of people trying to retrieve their loved ones' bodies.

Others were seen carting relatives' remains in rice sacks to the morgue.

Images obtained by AFP news agency showed a ferocious churning of dark orange mud coursing down a steep street, while videos posted by local residents showed people waist and chest deep in water trying to traverse the road.

Military personnel have been deployed to help in the rescue operation currently ongoing, officials said.

Many of the impoverished areas of Sierra Leone's capital are close to sea level and have poor drainage systems, exacerbating flooding during the West African country's rainy season.
A mudslide triggered by heavy rain near Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, kills at least 350 people with the death toll expected to rise as high as 500.