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City engineers drain water from roads to ease traffic gridlock


Commuters in Nairobi had to contend with delays on Monday morning as city engineers drained water from submerged roads following a heavy overnight downpour.

Traffic on all major roads moved at a snail pace, while in some cases motorists had to wait for hours, as Nairobi’s poor drainage system was again exposed by the rains on Sunday.

A section of Mombasa road, near Imara Daima area, was fully submerged forcing motorists to use alternative routes.

Nairobi traffic commandant Edward Mwamburi told Nairobi News that water had been drained and all roads cleared by Monday 10 a.m.

ROADS CLEARED

“Bunyala road too had a problem but as at now it has been cleared and vehicles are moving though it is still a bit slow,” he said.

Mr Mwamburi added that the section near City Mortuary that had a lot of water had been drained as well by engineers deployed there early morning.

Commuters using the Embakasi  train were also inconvenienced after it stalled near Taj Mall.

The train stalled at a cross-way  and blocked part of the on Outer Ring road.

“The Kenya Railways responded quickly and dealt with the train engine problem and now transport is back on normal schedule,” said Mr Mwamburi.

FRUSTRATIONS

Twitter users who were stuck in traffic Monday morning shared their frustrations while offering advise to the authorities charged with manning the city drainage system.

@maroa_wambura tweeted, “Can’t @KideroEvans work on our drainage system even though hakusababisha hii flood ya Nairobi Roads.”

@mutongoria tweeted, “Msa Rd @ Imara Daima is now officially part of the Great Lakes Region.”

@edochio2015 tweeted, “Traffic on Mombasa Road from South C towards airport if u have a plane to catch, leave now or use Bypass, all the way.”

The rains are expected to continue for the next month according to the meteorological department.