The Ministry of Interior and National Administration on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, issued an update on the flood situation across the country.
According to the Interior Ministry, 169 people have lost their lives due to floods as of April 29, 2024.
Notably, the mudslide in Mai Mahiu claimed 46 lives, Garissa reported 4 lives lost while Sindo, Homa Bay, reported another 4 fatalities.
“Since the last update, we have regrettably lost an additional 66 citizens who have been retrieved from different incident sites,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
A cumulative 102 individuals have been injured across the affected regions while a total of 91 people are currently missing.
Mai Mahiu accounts for 53 of these missing persons while Garissa has reported 16 missing persons.
The Interior Ministry said Nairobi, Tana River, West Pokot, and Homa Bay are the Counties that have been adversely affected by floods in the last 24 hours.
“30,099 households have been displaced, affecting approximately 150,495 individuals. In Sindo, Homa Bay, 161 households have been displaced.
“Approximately 190,942 individuals have been affected by these natural disasters. We are actively carrying out search, rescue, and retrieval operations particularly in Nakuru due to the recent mudslide and have rescued 23 people in Garissa,” the Ministry said.
Massive disruption
Kenya has registered heavy rain since mid-March but downpours have intensified over the past week, leading to mass flooding.
The Ministry of Education on Monday announced that all primary and secondary schools would postpone the start of the new school term for one week until May 6, 2024, because of floods.
“The devastating effects of the rains in some of the schools are so severe that it will be imprudent to risk the lives of learners and staff before water-tight measures are put in place to ensure adequate safety for all affected school communities,” Education CS Ezekiel Machogu asserted.
Several roads across the country have also been closed as a result of the devastating floods that have caused massive damage to transport infrastructure.
