Inundation in Kenya has resulted in at least 120 deaths and the displacement of nearly 90,000 homes, according to officials there on Tuesday.
El Nino, a natural meteorological phenomena, has caused flash floods that have affected Kenya and its neighbours, Somalia and Ethiopia. The Somalian authorities said that over 700,000 people had to leave their houses and that close to 100 people had died. According to the U.N. humanitarian organisation, at least 43 people have died in Ethiopia.
Numerous farms have been submerged, thousands of animals have perished, and hundreds of thousands of people are without a place to live as a result of the recent floods.
The nation had its worst drought in forty years, which left a large number of people hungry, before the floods.
Interior Minister Raymond Omollo has stated that the four counties in eastern Kenya most seriously affected by the floods are Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera.
Referring to the Kiambere Hydroelectric Power Station on Tana River, Omollo stated in a statement that “all major dams are being monitored but Kiambere has a metre remaining to overflow.” “We call on those downstream to move to higher ground even as government enhances power generation to mitigate the challenge.”
Monday’s emergency Cabinet meeting on the tragedy was presided over by Kenyan President William Ruto, who also promised to allocate millions of dollars to the affected communities.
The Kenya Meteorological Department projection states that the heavy rainfall would likely persist until at least January 2024.
Kenya and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa have been in the vanguard of the climate crisis, which, according to Save the Children, has left 57 million people in 12 countries vulnerable to climate change—nearly half of whom are children—in severe food poverty or worse.
This report included information from Reuters and Agence France Presse.
