NAIROBI: Torrential storms which have triggered flash floods in Kenya have killed no less than 81 individuals this month, authorities mentioned Sunday (Mar 22), as rain continued to pound a lot of the nation.
Within the nation’s hard-hit west, residents waded by flood waters with their belongings on their heads and evacuated in crowded boats, AFP reporters noticed.
Flash floods submerged complete villages in Kisumu county, destroying round 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of farmland and sweeping away crops.
Greater than 3,000 households have been pressured from their properties in the neighborhood of Nyakach, with some sheltering in eight evacuation centres, locals mentioned, as rising waters from the overflowing River Mirui proceed to threaten the neighborhood.
“We’ve got misplaced fairly quite a lot of farmlands with large erosion, and the farm vegetation that we had planted ,” mentioned the chief of Nyakach, Seth Oluoch Agwanda, 57.
The capital Nairobi has the very best dying toll within the floods, with 37 individuals killed, authorities mentioned.
“The cumulative variety of fatalities has sadly risen to 81,” nationwide police spokesman Muchiri Nyaga mentioned in an announcement.
“Moreover, flash floods have swept by a number of areas, displacing roughly 2,690 households and inflicting widespread destruction of infrastructure and property.”
On Friday evening, authorities referred to as on residents to evacuate a number of slum neighbourhoods downstream from the Nairobi dam, warning of an imminent danger of flooding as rising water ranges threatened to breach the dam embankment, in line with native media.
The dam has held to this point.
