Six killed, thousands displaced by heavy rainfall
Hundreds of people have been evacuated by boats and canoes as floods caused at least six deaths between Friday night and on Saturday.
In Murang’a County, four people were killed on Friday night following a mudslide in Murarandia village in Kiharu Constituency, while 10 others were injured.
Area OCPD David Kandie identified Gathaithi village in Kiharu, Lower Kambirwa, Mugoiri, Kinyona in Kigumo and Gitugi in Mathioya as most affected.
In Tana River, a boat capsized with two children aged one and 10 who had been rescued on Friday night.
The children were among five others who had been rescued from Galili village, having spent Thursday night on rooftops.
More than 10 schools in Galole constituency were also flooded following a heavy downpour which also saw more than 15,000 residents displaced.
HUGE LOSES
Tana River director of education Gitonga Mbaka said about 34 schools in the Tana Delta are marooned, while about 10 mud-walled learning institutions have been swept away.
Tana River director for special programmes Sokorote Mavue said the devolved government had incurred losses of up to Sh2 billion.
“We have incurred huge losses as a county and the situation continues to worsen. We are calculating our losses at Sh2 billion,” he said.
Crop farmers in the area have also lost all their farm produce, and pastoralists have lost more than 700 head of livestock.
So far, the county has spent more than Sh100 million in purchase of rescue motor boats, relief food and non-food items for the flood victims.
FLOOD CRISIS
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) alongside the Kenya Police, the Kilifi County government, Kenya Red Cross Society and other humanitarian organisations led efforts to rescue and evacuate more than 3,000 people who had been trapped by floods in Garashi and Kakuyuni wards.
The floods crisis has so far displaced 40,000 people in that area.
In Nandi, a mudslide left 300 families homeless on Friday night. When the Nation team visited the area, dozens of residents, including children and women, were camping at the Cherondo Primary School.
“I was in my house when I heard a strange sound. I rushed out to check and saw a huge stone rolling downhill,” Sharon Kogo recounted.
No one was hurt during the incident. Wilson Karoney, another resident, said the area was prone to landslides and appealed to the government to look for alternative land to relocate them.