Sierra Leone families devastated after deadly mudslides

FREETOWN, — Hawa Stevens spoke through tears of the 28 family members she lost after surging mudslides and floodwaters swept through Sierra Leone’s capital, killing hundreds and leaving hundreds more missing as rescue teams fought in vain to save them.

Please help me, God, she sobbed as she waited in a long line in the pouring rain Wednesday outside Freetown’s overwhelmed mortuary to try to identify the corpses of her loved ones.

More than 300 people were confirmed dead — a third of them children — from the devastating mudslides that hit before dawn on Monday, triggered by days of heavy rain.

At the city’s Connaught Hospital morgue, firefighters, military personnel, police and volunteers tried to help grieving survivors with the difficult process of finding their dead relatives, many too mangled and decomposed to be identified.

Amid the chaos of rescue efforts, the government has said contingency plans were being put in place to try to stem the outbreak of diseases such as cholera.