Heavy rains derail traffic on Mombasa highway

Several motorists on Sunday endured up to 12 hours in a traffic snarl up after a heavy downpour rendered a section of Mombasa road impassable.

Image Gallery

The traffic jam, stretching to about 15 kilometres from Ngokomi trading centre to Emali town is said to have started building up early Saturday night and went up till late afternoon on Sunday.

By midday, many drivers who had spent the night in the cold were still stuck in the jam.

The affected motorists blamed a muddy and slippery section of the diversion for hindering their movement.

A truck which was said to be carrying 30 tonnes of tea leaves to Mombasa overturned at the intersection, worsening the situation.

A newspaper delivery van belonging to the Standard Group too got stuck in the mud at Ngokomi centre.

The affected stretch is a diversion as the main road is undergoing construction by an Israeli contractor SBI International Holdings AG Kenya.

“We cannot move an inch because the road is slippery,” said truck driver Said Abdi who said he had been in the jam for eight hours.

The contractor, Natan Salama said the heavy rain the country was experiencing lately was likely to lead up to more of such snarl ups.

“We were due to open the road in a week but this may not be possible because of the rains,” said the Israeli contractor.

Mr Salama appealed to drivers to be more careful with the onset of the rains. The contractor brought in equipment to fill up the slippery parts with stones before the vehicles could again start moving.

The locals however cashed in on the opportunity, charging levies of between Sh50 and Sh200 to push vehicles out of the mud.

Joseph Mwangagi, 32, told the Nation he was looking forward to more of such days. “It was good business,” he said, “All we can say is that it is by God’s grace.”

The Kenya Meteorological Department had in August forecast the return of El Nino rains beginning second week of October after almost three years of drought.

An outlook by the weatherman indicates that El Niño conditions are “very likely to continue at least through the remainder of 2009 and probably into the first quarter of 2010.”