The death toll from severe flooding in Kenya has risen to 42 since Friday after heavy rains triggered flash floods across several regions, police said Sunday.. Aid workers pulled bodies from floodwaters across Nairobi on Saturday after flash floods that began overnight killed at least 23 people, swept away dozens of cars and disrupted flights at East Africa’s biggest airport, authorities said. Kenyan President William Ruto said he had deployed a team of emergency responders, including soldiers, to coordinate rescue efforts, while offering condolences to the affected communities.
“I have also ordered that relief food from our national strategic reserves be immediately released and distributed to families affected by the floods,” he said in a statement on social media. In the industrial neighbourhood of Grogan, security guard John Lomayan, 34, looked at the body of an elderly man he recognised – a roadside egg seller – trapped beneath a car that had been washed away when the Nairobi River burst its banks. “I saw him being carried by the water from up there,” he said, gesturing up the road. “We didn’t know where he had gone. It is only now that we see him under the car”.
Bus driver John Mwai recounted how he turned his bus into a rescue vehicle to move people to higher ground. Kenya Airways said the rains had disrupted flights to Nairobi and forced some to divert to the coastal city of Mombasa. Scientists say global warming is worsening floods and droughts across East Africa by concentrating rainfall into shorter, more intense bursts. A 2024 World Weather Attribution study found climate change had made devastating rains in the region twice as likely as before. A Reuters reporter saw three bodies pulled from underneath cars. Some of the dead had been electrocuted by damaged power lines. National provider Kenya Power separately said the waters had damaged equipment at a substation, listing 14 neighbourhoods that had been affected. “So many cars, so much stuff, I don’t know. Everything was just (washed away). All of the water (came) … from that river,” shocked resident Cedric Mwanza said, referring to the Nairobi River. videos of flooded homes and overturned vehicles were shared on social media. Rescue teams pulled out bodies from vehicles that had been washed away.
President William Ruto previously said a multiagency team had been deployed to support and relocate those in imminent danger to safer areas as rain continues in the country. He said the government would pay hospital bills for those affected and directed that relief food be distributed to affected families. Floodwaters have caused widespread damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure in parts of Nairobi and other regions, while rescue teams continue evacuating residents from inundated areas.
Nairobi, along with regions such as the Central Highlands, Lake Victoria Basin, and the coastal areas, remains under heightened alert for peak rainfall in the coming days, it added. Last year, hundreds of Kenyans were killed after heavy rains caused severe flooding and landslides across the country and neighbouring Tanzania.
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