Four more die, hundreds displaced as heavy rains wreak havoc

By Standard Team

Four people have died following heavy rains in parts of the country.

A girl, 13, was buried in a mudslide in Murang’a East District. Julia Wanjiru Muchiri, a Standard Six pupil at Maria-ini Primary School, died as she was preparing to take breakfast.

Part of the family tea farm at Maria-ini village, Gathaithi Location was also destroyed in the mudslide.

Villagers, with help of the police, retrieve the body of the deceased.

The village is among landslide prone areas where residents had been asked by the Government to vacate prior to the onset of rains. But they ignored the directive.

Kenya Red Cross Society PRO Nelly Muluka said Red Cross had deployed humanitarian assistance and personnel to the area to counter any emergence and to assist in evacution exercise.

In Tigania West District, two boys drowned after they were swept away by floods on Monday.

The victims, Phineas Kareithi, eight, and John Kirimi, four, from Muili Village were on their way home from herding cattle when the tragedy occurred.

The bodies were moved to Meru District Hospital Mortuary.

Meanwhile, pupils at Maburwa and Kiremu Primary Schools in Buuri Division of Tigania East District have been reporting to school late since Thursday last week after roads and their school were flooded.

76 families

And a villager at Kanagoni in Magarini has drowned following flash floods in the area. The 50-year-old man was swept away as he crossed a bridge.

Malindi OCPD Peter Kattam said in addition to the death, more than 76 families have been displaced following the floods.

Mr Kattam said communication between Malindi and Lamu has been cut off as a result.

He said the floods swept Kanagoni Bridge and marooned more than 500 metres of the road.

Elsewhere, at least 18 families have been left homeless and schools forced to close down following heavy floods in Nakuru and Naivasha towns.

In Nakuru’s Kwa Rhoda slum, a woman and a child were rescued when their house flooded following heavy rains.

The Monday evening incident left the families in the cold as storm water destroyed their homes and property.

In Naivasha, several schools were forced to close down after rains pounded the lakeside town for the third day running leaving a trail of destruction.

But Ms Muluka has assured Red Cross is on the ground: "Our emergency response unit is in control, and we call on the residents to be calm," she urged.

—Reporting by Boniface Gikandi, Willis Okech, Ramadhan Rajab, Anthony Gitonga, Esther Wanjiku Patrick Muriungi.

 

 

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