Photo Credit: EPA
Recent heavy downpour in different parts of Kenya has led to the deaths of 13 people and a displacement of at least 15000 people. The weather forecasters have raised an alarm for continued heavy rains.
In previous years, the country in East Africa has lost thousands of its citizens to floods. Flooding has been common in lake regions and along major rivers.
On Thursday, the UN office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that approximately 20,000 people were affected. This included an estimated 15,000 people displaced by heavy rains and floods across the country since the start of the rainy season in mid-March.
A bus carrying 51 passengers was swept by floods on Tuesday 10th of April. Luckily all the passengers were rescued by the Kenya Red Cross Society. The society told the press that five major roads were cut off by floods, including Garissa Road which the bus was using.
Tana River, Lamu and Garissa are among Counties that are downstream of River Tana. Kenya’s disaster management agency issued a flood warning to residents of these counties after flooding breached dams upstream. Residents have been urged to move to higher grounds.
The heavy rains have reportedly caused mudslides in the central and western regions of the country.
A mudslide in Torokiat, Narok county has led to the deaths of four family members. So far, nine out of 47 counties in the country have reported flooding incidents
The secretary general of the Kenya Red Cross Society, Ahmed Idris, told Citizen TV that “lifesaving assistance” which includes shelter and clean drinking water was being offered to those displaced and are living in camps to avert outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
According to the meteorology department, the floods are expected to reach their climax at the end of April and subside in June.
