Poor drainage to blame as houses, churches submerged in Mombasa floods

What you need to know:

  • At Apostolic and Wonderful Ministry in Bamburi, faithful used buckets and other containers to scoop water.
  • Ms Odembo said she woke up at around 3am and found her household items such as utensils, bedding and clothes swept away.
  • Mr Mvua Ali complained that the county government had not taken any step in addressing the floods menace.
  • He said there was need for county officials to address the matter before the situation gets out of hand.

Houses were submerged and roads flooded after heavy rains pounded Mombasa on Saturday night and for the better part of Sunday morning.

Streets and buildings in Bamburi, Mtopanga and Utange areas were the most affected by the heavy deluge.

Sunday church services could not be conducted in some churches as faithful had no access to their places of worship, which were flooded.

At Apostolic and Wonderful Ministry in Bamburi, faithful used buckets and other containers to scoop water.

“We woke up early in the morning only to find that we cannot go on with our church programme.

“Over 200 people have gone back home, while others are helping to remove the water.

“But what is sad is that this problem is always there yet the county is doing nothing to improve the drainage system,” said Pastor Jane Mbogo.

A resident, Ms Grace Odembo, whose house was among those marooned by the floods in Utange, said she was woken up at around 3am by the heavy rains and found her household items such as utensils, bedding and clothes swept away.

FEAR OF DISEASE OUTBREAK

She expressed fear of being exposed to cholera and Hepatitis A after borehole water in the area got contaminated.

“This area is clear that there is no proper drainage system, there are many houses here, and the need of having proper drainage is our right. When will this problem come to an end? The rainy season is now here; don’t you see that we are staring at danger,” she lamented.

Another resident at Bamburi Mwisho, Mr Mvua Ali, complained that the county government had not taken any step in addressing the floods menace in the region.

He said there was need for county officials to address the matter before the situation gets out of hand.

DRAINAGE CLOGGED

“When El-Nino was forecast the county officials brought some construction materials here to put up free flow drainage system, but it is the same materials including the building blocks that are clogging this water here,” he said.

County Executive for Transport and Infrastructure Tawfiq Balala had said the county did not have any budget allocated for the construction of the drainage system, but added that they were redesigning the gully pots.

He also asked residents to be responsible.

“People are stealing manhole covers, others dump garbage on the street; that’s why we have these drainages clogging,” said Mr Balala.