Explaining the Deadly Sierra Leone Mudslide
Rainfall triggered a slide that had likely been building for weeks, but environmental damage may have made the destruction worse.
Every year, intense rains fall throughout Sierra Leone. In a dataset of annual precipitation by rainfall, Sierra Leone falls at number 12 globally. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) estimated that the tiny West African country received over 2,500 mm of rain from 2013 to 2017.
And now the country has seen one of Africa's worst natural disasters in recent years. As of August 14, 400 people were presumed dead and 600 more were still missing.
Muddy water and debris continue to flow through the streets of Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital city, but much of the damage can be attributed to a massive mudslide that struck early Monday morning.
For a country so historically accustomed to heavy
