Floods havoc in new city suburbs

When the rains started pounding Kitengela on Monday afternoon, Mrs Beatrice Lungatso was going about her daily chores in her house in New Valley Estate. After the long dry season, the onset of the rains would be welcome.

But this time, the rains were heavier than usual. With every passing minute, the rains pounded her roof harder and harder.

Then she heard screams and shouts from outside: “Mama Junior, pandeni juu ya mabati, mtabebwa na maji (Mama Junior get yourself and the children to the roof, you could be swept away by flood waters).” She noted the urgency in the voice; even alarm.

When she looked outside through the window, what she saw almost left her paralysed with fear. One side of her perimeter fence had been brought down by the floodwaters, which were now almost at the level of the window of her house. Soon the waters would be gushing into the house.

With her in the house on that day was her son,10, daughter,17, and niece, 17. She had to think fast as the flash floods swamped the whole compound.

“I quickly gathered the children and asked them to take the steps that lead to the water tank, which is on the same level with the roof,” she told Sunday Nation. “Once they were safely on top, I followed them to the roof.” Immediately after, the waters gushed into the house.

In Millimani Estate, the situation was not quite different for Mrs Winnie Chore, who was preparing the family dinner when the rains started. Her seven-year-old son was playing at a neighbour’s house.

“I suddenly heard a deafening roar outside and when I opened the door to check what was happening, I could not believe what I was seeing. The whole compound was a mass of flowing river. Water started seeping into the house,” she narrates.

Outside, her chicken coop and doghouse were completely submerged in water. She could only stand helpless and watch some household items floating around the compound and finally disappear outside the gate.

The only saving grace was that her son was safe at the neighbour’s house as it is on higher ground. Mrs Lungatso and Mrs Chore represent the misery suffered by many residents of Kitengela and the surrounding areas, every time there is a heavy downpour.

The demand for housing, and therefore land, has ushered unprecedented growth of the satellite towns of Kitengela, Rongai, Ngong, Kiserian, Ruai, Kamulu, Tala, Juja and Ruiru as people who work in Nairobi look for property to develop.

The rush has resulted in construction without proper planning.

Councillor Jeremiah ole Parkinyaro, who represents Kitengela Ward holds a very dim view of people who have built on waterways and have thus lost property in the flooding. “All I can say is that this misery is self-inflicted,” he charges. “The council has issued notices asking people not to build on waterways but they choose to ignore the directive.

“In 2006 I personally had to oversee the demolition of buildings that had been constructed along waterways following similar flooding.”

However, Mr Parkinyaro, who is also the vice-chairman of Olkejuado County Council, insists that blame must be shared between residents who sidestep council directives and the Planning Department of the council.

“Although the council, through the Planning Department, publishes notices in the media, these should be followed up by visits on the ground to ensure that council by-laws are strictly adhered to,” he says.

The rains have also exposed the soft-underbelly of the mushrooming urban centres – the sewer system. On Tuesday night, the second day of flooding, for instance, sewers in parts of Kajiado burst and effluent was flowing freely, the foul stench filling the air.

“I will not lie to you we do not have a structured sewer system in Kajiado County,” he says.