Each year, the rainy season from late May to late July brings landslides and flooding that kill dozens, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, in the country of 30 million people.

A "particularly high toll of 59 people who have died this year, even though we are only at the beginning of the rainy season," spokesman Amadou Coulibaly told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Flooding is a recurring problem in Abidjan, the economic capital and home to more than six million people.

Rapid urban growth has led to widespread informal housing in flood-prone areas.

Abidjan saw more than 10 people killed in just two days, the government reported on Monday.