Kidero apologises to Nairobians over city floods, says rainfall unprecedented

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has apologised to city residents following heavy floods in the past two days saying the amount of rainfall experienced recently was unprecedented.

Dr Kidero said this year’s rainfall is 10 per cent more than what was experienced last year and "worse than the 1997 El Niño".

He said his county government had asked the Meteorological Department to share the actual rainfall forecast for the coming days so as to prepare the City residents.

"My sincere condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones as a result of the wall that collapsed in Fuata Nyayo and the seven others who were injured," the Governor said in a statement from Doha, Qatar, where he is on official business.

The Kenya Meteorological Department, however, said they gave out a warning on Sunday that the city was likely to receive over 50 millimetres of rain in twenty four hours this week.

Deputy Director in-charge of Forecasting, Peter Ambenje said City Hall figures are based on the annual average which could not be used in the current state of the weather.

"We are assessing the situation on a median range of five to seven days because we cannot go for the long run at the moment to get accurate forecasts," he said.

DIMINISHING RAINFALL PATTERN

Mr Ambenje told the Nation that the kind of storm that had hit the capital in the recent two days was unlikely as the forecasts show a diminishing pattern in the next few days.

The Coast region is however exposed to severe weather and is likely to come under raging floods according to the data at the weather department.

Dr Kidero said City Hall was working with Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and Kenya Highways Authority (Kenha) to unclog drainages that have seen commuters spend hours in traffic and school children stranded in several parts of the city.

The Nairobi Governor added that he was working with the traffic police commandant to ensure flow of traffic is manageable during this period.

This comes a little too late for the county mourning the death of at least ten people and extensive property damage.

Nairobians went online to express their frustrations, blaming insufficient county infrastructure and houses set up on grabbed watersheds which have now blocked the flow of water.

"It is unfortunate that our drainage system has never been upgraded for many years. County Government please step up and do so," @CKirubi wrote on Twitter.

‏@WanjeriNderu wrote: "How about the grabbed waterways and swamps? Did all Kenyans take part in that too?"

She was responding to a tweet by Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who blamed City residents for throwing polythene from their vehicles which was supposedly clogging the drainages.