By Oluwatosin Maliki
A total of 15 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the Kenya flood which swept away a number of houses and devastated farmlands following the torrential rains.
This was made known by the Red Cross organisation on Monday.
It was gathered that the heavy rainfall hit the country, particularly the bone-dry north, in recent days, which sent water gushing into homes and submerging roads, with similar scenes playing out across other parts of East Africa.
This was disclosed by the Red Cross organisation in Kenya on Monday via X (formerly Twitter), “As of yesterday, 15,264 households have been affected, with 15 casualties reported”.
Furthermore, the organization noted that more than 1,000 livestock had died, while at least 240 acres (97 hectares) of agricultural farmland have been destroyed.
However, the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, last month had predicted that eastern Africa would most likely encounter heavier than normal rains over the October-December period because of the El Nino phenomenon.
Similarly, Kenya’s Meteorological Department equally warned last week that the heavy rains were “likely to be accompanied by gusty winds”.
“The strong winds may blow off roofs, uproot trees and cause structural damages,” it said in an advisory.
Meanwhile, images broadcasted on local media have shown the level of damages caused by the flood, while also showing how the flood inundated the entire villages and sending residents fleeing for higher ground.
Additionally, dramatic footage showed a civilian chopper on a rescue mission as it came to the aid of people from a lorry marooned in Samburu county, some 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of the capital Nairobi.
El Nino is a naturally occurring weather pattern associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.
The extreme weather conditions have affected close to two million people and washed away tens of thousands of livestock in Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.