Torrential rains that have hit Cameroon over the last few days have left misery and chaos in their wake, with people trying to cope with flooding, landslides and road chaos.
For many in the South-West region it is the worst rainy season in living memory.
“I have lived in Tiko for more than 30 years but I have not witnessed this kind of rain,” a food vendor in the town told the BBC.
Over the weekend, at least one child died in Tiko when their family home collapsed.
The floods were triggered on Saturday by a sudden storm that swept through areas by the main road linking the towns of Likomba and Mutengene, which passes through Tiko.
Accompanied by wild winds, the rains knocked down trees and walls at the police college in Mutengene.
Tiko resident Vincent Njume said: “I saw the Likomba River overflowing its banks, flooding with woods and household stuffs. Trees were falling.”
Rocks and pebbles were cascading down the gentle slopping road linking Tiko and Mutengene, both towns at the foot of Mount Cameroon.
The road then turned into a fast-flowing river, disrupted traffic for hours, leaving drivers of heavy duty lorries and passengers in taxis trapped. It has taken several days to clear away the mud and debris and people have shared videos of the carnage:
Heavy rains for two consecutive days led to floods that swept a child and interrupted traffic in Limbe, South West Region for several hours. It also rained in the Littoral Region.#Cameroonpic.twitter.com/dpIZ9aOine
Many people are now counting their losses. Up to 3,000 chickens were swept away from a poultry farm in the Down Beach neighbourhood of Tiko.
A building and swimming pool under construction disappeared in the flood. With many people watching and screaming, a popular bar was also swept away.
While some blame climate change for the increased rainfall, district officer for Tiko, Armstrong Voh - who has clearly been overwhelmed with the level of destruction - said that illegal constructions just made things worse.
He warned that people who had built houses by waterways or swamps would have their residences demolished to allow free flow of streams.
“If not, we will constantly have situations of floods in Tiko,” he told state-run Cameroon Tribune newspaper.
Tiko-based journalist Ivo Ngong, who witnessed an avalanche, agreed there was a problem: “People are obstructing water paths. They are building haphazardly, felling trees and blocking drainage systems with plastics and other rubbish.”
Other towns, including the capital city, Yaoundé, now experience flooding regularly during the rainy season, which runs from March until September.
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