Week-long rains expose city’s poor drainage
Residents in parts of Nairobi are grappling with impassable roads and overflowing drainages following week-long rains that hit the city.
The rains have been pounding the city on a daily basis, the latest downpour witnessed Sunday morning.
At Kisumu Ndogo in Donholm, the rains have left pools of water everywhere which now serve as breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Matters have been worsened by heaps of uncollected garbage which have been been swept into drainage lines.
The locals lay the blame on the county government.
“Someone must be sleeping on the job. The men and women from city council only show up once in a blue moon. Clear grass and disappear without even doing much. They only pretend to clean this area,” said an angry Moses Kamau, a resident in Kisumu Ndogo.
Some have blamed shops that sell liquor for keeping the area untidy.
“Some irresponsible liquor shop attendants and drunkards have been dumping polythene bags, bottles and boxes in the trenches that eventually block flow of water when it rains,” said Levis Wanjala, a first year student at UoN.
The residents are calling on the county government to put their house in order so as to keep Kisumu Ndogo area in Donholm and its environs clean.
In parts of Kamukunji and Starehe, some roads have been rendered impassable by mud and pools of water, forcing city centre-bound matatus to take detours.
The result has been snarl-ups especially along Jogoo Road and Landhies Road.
Earlier in the week, a matatu that had taken a detour through Gikomba market got stuck in a ditch filled with water.
Passengers were forced to get alternative transport to their destinations but not before parting with Sh30 each to get assistance from handcart pushers who ferried them from the matatu stuck in the pool of water to ground.
“We were stuck for one hour till a handcart came to our rescue. We had to part with extra Sh30,” said Cersidy Lumumba, one of the affected passengers.