Buea — Floods affected thirty percent of the houses in Cameroon's economic capital, Douala, on Friday, following three days of severe torrential rains.

Water levels rose dramatically, and a bridge leading out of Douala towards Yaounde, the nation's capital city, collapsed, cutting off road communication.

As the floods continued, the radio announced that three people died from drowning. Eighty other persons have been displaced, following damage to their homes. The governor of the province, Mr Emmanuel Eban Otong, immediately setup a hotline to collect information on the flood.

Douala is on the coast of Cameroon, in the Littoral Province, and has a high humidity rate due to its closeness to the Atlantic Ocean. The rains have however, been particularly heavy this year.

In nearby Southwest Province, repairs on the roads in the provincial capital, Buea, have been halted, as heavy rains have caused rocks and boulders from the Cameroon Mountain to flow down on to the roads. The drainage system of the town has also been affected.