City downpour claims one, destroys property

The heavy rains pounding several parts of the country on Wednesday night claimed the life of a child and left a trail of destruction in Nairobi.

Five-year-old Eric Mutua and his parents had retired to bed in Kware slums when floods swept through their house at 11pm.

The wall of the wooden structure fell on his parents as flood swept away all their belongings, including the young boy.

“We were unable to help after the wall fell on both of us. But it was too late after we recovered because the raging floods had swept everything plus Mutua”, Mrs Judy Muthee, the mother, told the Nation on Thursday.

The body of the boy was found 12 hours later trapped between luggage in a nearby house. It was taken to City Mortuary by police.

About 500 families that dwell in the slum spent their night in the cold, with those residing in nearby flats trapped in their houses for hours as the flood waters took time to reduce.

Area police officer in charge of operations John Kilokwe said about 180 houses were flooded, with property either being destroyed or swept away.

He said, together with the affected residents, they managed drain the flood water into Nairobi River.

Red Cross officials on the ground refused to comment on the tragedy, saying they were still assessing the extent of damage.

Mrs Muthee described her late son as a cheerful boy who loved playing with his peers and appealed to the government to come to her rescue.

The downpour flooded several roads in the city, and most of them remained under water Thursday morning. In Mathare slums, floods swept through shanties but there were no reports of deaths.