At least 23 people have been killed in a landslide caused by heavy rain in Cameroon's capital Yaounde, firefighters said on Monday.

Landslides are frequent during the rainy season in Yaounde, where houses are sometimes built precariously on the city's many hills.

The latest incident occurred late Sunday in the district of Mbankolo, northwest of Yaounde, which is home to nearly three million people.

"Yesterday we pulled out 15 people who had died and this morning we have found eight. We are still looking," the fire service's second in command David Petatoa Poufong told reporters.

Torrential rains caused a levee holding back an artificial lake sitting on higher ground to rupture, according to public broadcaster CRTV.

Images broadcast on TV showed an entire section of a hill had collapsed and what remained of houses apparently constructed out wood, dried earth bricks and metal sheeting.

"There was a landslide after heavy rain. The water swept away everything in its path," Daouda Ousmanou, a local administrative official announced on public radio.

In November, at least 15 people died when a landslide engulfed members of a funeral party in Yaounde's working-class district of Damas, on its eastern outskirts.