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Tips on how to survive El-Nino rains in Nairobi

By Hilary Kimuyu September 21st, 2015 2 min read

The El Niño rains are expected to fall throughout the country starting October.

The Nairobi County government has said it will map out areas prone to flooding before the onset of the rains.

Some of the areas in Nairobi that are expected to be affected most by the rains include Highrise Estate and South C Shopping Centre where houses were submerged with water from Mutu-ini-Ngong River.

Other flood-prone areas are Maziwa-Ziimmerman along Kamiti Road, River Bank area, which is on Baba Dogo-Outer Ring road and Lavington- Chalbi Drive, Garden Estate, Thome, Roysambu, Kahawa West, Donholm, Mbagathi/Langata Road Roundabout, Nairobi West, Ruai, Utawala, Mukuru slums and Kibera Slums.

Here are a few tips on how you can survive the El-Nino rains.

Form an evacuation plan – The key to surviving an El Nino flood is to learn the safest route away from your home to a safe area just in case you need to evacuate in a hurry.

Without an evacuation plan, you might turn from evacuees into refugees.

Prepare a cache of emergency supplies – This includes keeping a set of emergency cooking equipment, food, fresh batteries, flashlights and portable radios in good working order.

If you live on the ground floor, make plans to move to higher floors where the water won’t reach you.

Take care of your car – Remember the heavy rains back in May? Well, the El-Nino rains will be twice as much. City motorists will get trapped on impassable roads.

So as a precaution, do not try to drive in flooded roads. Leave your car at home or at you place of work and find other means of transport.

School Children – We all saw horrific picture of a school bus trapped in flood waters for hours. So if it starts to pour, children are better off staying in school than trying to get home. They are safer there with the teachers and you can pick them up after it stops raining.