(Mai Mahui, Kenya) At least 46 people died in central Kenya, after a natural dam burst under the effect of the torrential rains which have been hitting the country for several weeks, according to a new report which is still provisional .
This is the deadliest episode in this East African country since the start of the rainy season, which is amplified this year by the El Niño climatic phenomenon.
On Monday, the Kenyan government reported 103 deaths and more than 185,000 displaced people across the country since March, in a report which did not, however, mention the tragedy of Old Kijabe.
“The people at the morgue said they had 46 bodies” coming from this locality located about fifty kilometers northwest of Nairobi, Joyce Ncece, head of relief operations in Nakuru county, told AFP. is the dam.
Among the victims are 29 adults and 17 children, she detailed.
Located on a hill, the Old Kijabe Dam was formed over decades, after the construction of a railway line by the British colonial authorities.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, its earthen buttresses gave way, spilling water from the adjacent reservoir onto the houses and roads below while residents slept.
“It swept away everything in its path. We recovered some bodies from the trees and we don’t know how many are under the mud,” said Stephen Njihia Njoroge, a resident of Kamuchiri village, where the powerful flow of muddy water uprooted trees, swept away houses and buried cars under piles of earth, branches and stones.
Back to school postponed
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the government had ordered local authorities to “inspect all dams and water reservoirs…within 24 hours” and identify situations requiring evacuations.
The minister also denounced the “risky behavior” of motorists and pedestrians unconsciously crossing flooded areas and “unscrupulous people (…) who put the population in danger by building and using (boats) to transport passengers stranded against money “.
Several incidents of this type have been recorded in recent days.
In Tana River County (southeast), the Red Cross announced that it had recovered two dead bodies and rescued 23 people after a boat capsized.
The start of the school year scheduled for Monday, after three weeks of vacation, has been postponed by one week, announced the Minister of Education, Ezekiel Machogu.
“The devastating effects of the rains in some schools are so serious that it would be unwise to risk the lives of students and staff before waterproofing measures are put in place,” he said in a statement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “saddened by the loss of life and damage caused by flash floods” in the country, recalled the organization’s “commitment” “to support the government of Kenya in this difficult period,” declared its spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Region under water
In several East African countries, seasonal rains this year are coupled with the El Niño climatic phenomenon, which began in mid-2023 and could last until May, the World Meteorological Organization warned on March 5 (WMO).
El Niño causes increased temperatures, but also droughts in some parts of the world and heavy rains in others.
In Tanzania, at least 155 people have died in floods or landslides.
In Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, 96,000 people have been displaced by months of uninterrupted rain.
Deaths and damage were also recorded in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa (4 deaths), Rwanda (2 deaths) and Uganda (2 deaths).
El Niño has often wreaked havoc in eastern Africa in the past.
In December, more than 300 people died in various disasters caused by heavy rains in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. In Somalia, more than a million people had been displaced.
From October 1997 to January 1998, gigantic floods fueled by torrential rains caused more than 6,000 deaths in five countries in the region.
reference: www.lapresse.ca