Kenya flood victims count their losses

The floods ravaging the country have killed 60, displaced more than 50,000 and affected more than 120,000 people. More than 1,400 acres under farm crops have been swept away and many roads destroyed.

Red Cross communications officer Nelly Muluka said two children died and four other people injured in Bungoma District when their house was swept away by a mudslide.

In Kajiado North, a motorcyclist in Kangawa near Rongai was swept away. And the meteorological department said the rainy season is here to stay.

The department’s deputy director, Mr Peter Ambenje, warned that floods were imminent, especially in Nyanza and Budalang’i as rivers Nzoia and Yala continue to swell.

At the same time, a bridge linking Lodwar and Lokichoggio has been swept away by floods. Traders and motorists cannot reach the two towns after the bridge over River Kalawase was smashed by raging waters.

Turkana regional commissioner Christopher Musumbu said more than 200 families have been displaced in the area. Trucks transporting goods from Mombasa to southern Sudan are stranded.

At the same time, agricultural commodities worth thousands of shillings are rotting in farms in the North Rift after roads were rendered impassible.

In Marigat, some 1,520 people have been left homeless after their homes were swept away by floods. About 300 families have been in the cold since Saturday when floods hit the area after River Entau burst its banks.

And in Nakuru, a 32-year-old woman was swept away by raging floods in Solai as she tried to cross a swollen stream. Ms Stella Kerubo’s body was retrieved on Wednesday.

Reports by Barnabas Bii, Casper Waithaka, Noah Cheploen, Francis Mureithi