Floods kill 15, displace 2,000 in new wave of destruction
What you need to know:
- Famine looms in Tana Delta after water submerges thousands of acres of farms and sweeps away maturing crops.
On Sunday, motorists on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway delayed their trips for at least three hours after floods submerged the road near Sultan Hamud.
A woman and her five-year-old daughter died in fast-moving water while crossing a river in Masinga, Machakos county, on Friday.
At least 15 people, including a mother and her five-year-old child, have been killed by floods and another 2,000 have been displaced by heavy rains in several parts of the country.
The downpour has also washed away sections of roads and destroyed property across the 47 counties, leading to heavy losses and forcing motorists to seek alternative routes.
Seven people died on Sunday morning after a car they were travelling in was swept by floods at Karati area in Kinangop constituency, Nakuru County.
The seven, three women and four men, were from the same family. They are the latest victims of floods in the area.
Their Probox car was swept by raging waters on the Naivasha-Njabini road at about 4am yesterday, according to Njabini deputy County Commissioner Joseph Nyameti.
SWEPT AWAY
A woman and her five-year-old daughter died in fast-moving water while crossing a river in Masinga, Machakos county, on Friday.
Machakos County Commissioner Matilda Sakwa yesterday said Ms Sharon Nzula, 29, and her daughter, Nduku Makau, died on Friday evening in Kikumini sub-location of the county.
“The were crossing a river at around 6pm. The floods increased in intensity while they were in the middle of the river and swept them away. Sharon’s body was retrieved while the search for her daughter’s body is still going on,” she added.
A 14-year-old girl died in raging floods in Migori County while scores of families were displaced. The girl died in Karungu, Nyatike constituency, on Saturday evening after Opija bridge — which she was crossing — was ripped by floods.
Nyora, Kabuto and Sere villages in Nyatike sub-county are the worst affected. About 200 families have moved to higher ground with their livestock as they wait for the water levels to fall.
REFUGEES
The flash floods occurred after rivers Kuja and Migori burst their banks.
The death toll in Tana River county is currently at six, with the recent drowning of a National Youth Service official in a flooded section of the broken Bura-Madogo Road.
Some 1,800 people have been marooned in the coastal county, with Bura sub-county and Tana Delta the most affected.
There is a humanitarian crisis in the county as more than 20,000 people have been displaced from their homes. They are currently huddled at refugee camps.
Speaking to the Nation, County Red Cross coordinator Jarred Bombe said rescue operations were going on in Tana Delta, where about 200 families have spent nights on house roofs and trees as rains pound the area.
“We are evacuating those marooned in the Tana Delta. The camps are congested due to the huge population of displaced people,” said Mr Bombe.
CROCODILES
Crocodile attacks have also been reported in Tana Delta, where a man was reportedly attacked while wading through floods.
The crocodiles are reportedly swimming upstream into the flooded villages. A number were spotted last week when River Tana broke its banks, sweeping villages six kilometres away.
The flooded road has claimed three lives in less than 14 days, with the body of a man still reportedly missing. An unidentified body of a woman is at Mwingi Mortuary.
Meanwhile, famine is looming in the Tana Delta after floods submerged thousands of acres of farmland and swept away maturing crops. River Tana is still pouring its waters into farms and villages, destroying crops and displacing people.
The Kenya Red Cross Society estimates that 4,000 households (about 24,000 people) have been affected by floods in the county.
GRIDLOCK
On Sunday, motorists on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway delayed their trips for at least three hours after floods submerged the road near Sultan Hamud. No one was injured in the mid-day incident.
Passengers on a Nairobi-bound bus were evacuated after the bus was overpowered by floods on a five-kilometre stretch of the road. Makueni County Commissioner Mohammed Maalim warned motorists against driving on the Sultan Hamud-Kalimbini Road during heavy downpour.
He advised them to use the Machakos-Wote-Makindu Road to avoid a gridlock that had started to form on either side of the road.
The floods had eased by 2pm yesterday. “The last time I saw such floods was in the 1997 El-Nino rains,” said Mr Tom Mutie, who was stuck in the traffic.
INJURED
In Embu County, two men were injured yesterday after the lorry they were travelling in overturned while crossing a swollen river at Marivwe drift, Mbeere North sub county.
The driver of the lorry, which was ferrying sand, had reportedly been warned against crossing the river since the drift was weak and cracked.
Evurore MCA Dun Mbui said another lorry had sunk in Uvarire on Monday while crossing a flooded seasonal river.
Heavy rains also swept away two drifts in Mwea and Kiambere wards, affecting transport.
Reported by Waikwa Maina, Macharia Mwangi, Pius Maundu, Gastone Valusi, Elisha Otieno, Stephen Oduor and Charles Wanyoro
