Death toll from floods rises to 18

Raging floods have claimed 18 lives and affected more than 10,000 people according to Kenya Red Cross Society and government officials.

The Red Cross communications manager, Mr Titus Mung’ou, said on Monday that at least nine people had died as a result of floods and landslides while four others had been killed by lightning.

And the district officer for Central Division in Suba District, Mr Paul Langat, said five fishermen were feared dead after their boats capsized in Lake Victoria. “We have received information regarding the capsizing of two fishing boats where five fishermen are said to be missing.”

Mr Mung’ou said some of the 10,117 people affected had been displaced, their properties destroyed or their sources of livelihood lost as a result of floods and landslides.

He said those affected included 2,100 in Mandera, 600 in Samburu and Isiolo, 1,200 in Garbatula, 2,000 in Tinderet, 3,600 in Lokori, 420 in Marsabit and 197 in Moyale.

In Isiolo, the local Kenya Red Cross branch had started distribution of non-food items to 120 households in Garfasa area in Garbatula, said Mr Mung’ou.

In Samburu, he added, at least 600 staff of the lodges affected by the flooding River Ewaso Nyiro were camping in tents on a hill as their houses remained flooded and the hotels closed.

In the North Rift, the communications manager said, floods in Lokori, Turkana East, had destroyed irrigation canals and more than 300 families had been advised to move to higher ground.

And in northern Kenya, health authorities have raised fears of a cholera outbreak. A World Health Organisation official, Dr Argata Guracha, said most of the areas affected by floods lacked clean drinking water, raising fears of a disease outbreak.

In Mandera, the floods are said to have destroyed buildings and water sources. In Gucha District, most roads are impassable and crops have been destroyed by hailstones. Some 200 pupils of Got Kachola Primary School in Migori District are learning under trees after a storm destroyed their classrooms.

And in Lake Victoria, including the disputed Migingo Island, fishing has been disrupted. Nyatike district commissioner Patrick Mwangi said they were on high alert although nobody had been displaced by the floods. “Water levels in rivers Migori and Kuja have been rising steadily and we are monitoring the situation,” he said.

Reporting by Maurice Kaluoch, Abdullahi Jamaa, Hassan Huka, Jackline Moraa and Elisha Otieno