Seven dead as floods continue to wreck havoc
Seven people in different parts of the country died after drowning or being swept away by floods on Thursday night and Friday morning, following heavy rains.
In Meru, at Mugae along the Ruiri-Isiolo road one person died while another was rescued by the Red Cross emergency response team after he tried to cross the flood on a motorbike, Kenya Red Cross Society Central region coordinator Gitonga Mugambi said.
Motorists and other road users were stranded for several hours while others were forced to use alternative routes.
In Taita Taveta, two children drowned in separate incidents following heavy rains.
A five-year-old boy was swept away by floods as he tried to cross the Mwatate River. The Grade Two pupil at Maili Kumi Primary School was heading home in the evening after the heavy rains.
Mwatate OCPD Francis Mwangi said the body of the boy was found lying in a ditch downstream at Chakaleri. The body was taken to Moi County Referral Hospital’s mortuary in Voi.
DROWNED
Elsewhere, an eight-year-old boy also drowned while swimming in a ditch in Lesesia. County police commander Fred Ochieng said the father of the deceased reported that his child was grazing goats when he drowned in a former quarry that had filled with water on Friday morning.
The body of the boy was taken to Taveta sub-county hospital awaiting post mortem examination.
“Parents should monitor the movement of their children to avoid such incidents,” Mr Ochieng said.
In Kwale County, Vanga area Chief Mr Abdallah Kama said that River Umba broke its banks in Lunga Lunga sub-county due to the heavy rains experienced. No damage was experienced in the area.
In Mombasa, major roads in the Central Business District (CBD) were rendered impassable with Changamwe residents spending hours in traffic jam at Kibarani along Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
Flood waters reached the door steps of houses and other buildings in parts of Kisauni, Bamburi and Nyali.
SWEPT AWAY
Buses which were stuck along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway started arriving on Friday morning with passengers blaming the government of not preparing for the rains which were forecasted last week.
In Machakos the County Commissioner, Maltilda Sakwa said four people were swept away by floods while crossing a bridge at Athi-River in Joska –Kamulu along Kangundo –Nairobi highway and their bodies retrieved some meters away on Friday morning from the river by police and the public. About 30 residents were displaced and 20 houses were swept away.
Ms Sakwa said that crops were also destroyed threatening the food security of the county. She called on families in low lands in the county to shift to the higher grounds.
Elsewhere in Machakos, pupils from Lukenya Academy spent the night in school after water rose above the Stoni -Athi bridge cutting off transport on the road from the school.
School Director Ms Mutheu Kasanga said one hundred and twenty day scholars had to be accommodated by fellow pupils who are boarders as police advised against crossing the bridge on Thursday evening.