Death toll in Solomons flooding rises to nine

The confirmed death toll from flash floods in the Solomon Islands rose to nine Saturday and was expected to continue climbing, authorities said, as reports emerged of children swept away in swollen rivers. "We have nine bodies and a lot of people are still missing," Dr Alex Munamua at the Solomons' National Referral Hospital told AFP. With about 10,000 people packed into emergency shelters, the Red Cross secretary general in the Solomons, Joanne Zoleveke, described the devastation as "a tragedy none of us saw coming". The city's main river, the Matanikau, burst its banks in a torrential tropical storm late Thursday, sweeping away riverside communities, bringing down bridges and inundating the downtown area.

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