Six people including four children died after heavy rainfall triggered flooding and damaged buildings in the city of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said on Monday.

A father, mother and their two children died overnight from Sunday to Monday when a wall of their earthen home collapsed under the pressure of the rain, local official Deo Kurasa told AFP.

The four were the house's only inhabitants and "were all engulfed" by flooding, said David Cikuru, president of the local civil society organisation.

Two girls died in another house when their room caved in overnight. Their mother was injured as she prepared a meal in another room, local official Aimee Buhendwa told AFP.

An AFP correspondent said cracks in walls and collapsed houses were visible across Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province.

"It's time that residents who build on unsuitable sites can evacuate before the worst happens," said Cikuru, adding that Bukavu was "saturated".

Deadly flooding, landslides and building collapses caused by heavy rainfall are often reported in Bukavu, which is on the shore of Lake Kivu on the border with Rwanda.

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