No fewer than 70 people have died due to flooding and heavy rains in Kenya since mid-March, according to a government spokesperson, twice as many as were reported earlier this week.
Africa Today News, New York understands that Kenya and other countries particularly those in East Africa — a region highly vulnerable to climate change — have been lashed by severe downpours in recent weeks.
“The official tally of fellow Kenyans who regrettably have lost their lives due to the flooding situation now stands at 70 lives,” government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said on X on Friday, after torrential rains killed 32 people in the capital Nairobi this week.
No fewer than fifteen people were killed in the Rift Valley region, the government also said in a report on Friday, following a meeting of the country’s disaster response committee.
More than 120,000 people have been displaced by the floods, the report said, with 22 others injured and eight reported missing.
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The government has proposed 3.3 billion Kenyan shillings ($24.5m) for an “initial emergency response”, which includes repairing infrastructure, emergency housing and food assistance.
Sixty-four public schools in Nairobi – nearly a third of the total number in the capital – have been “substantially affected” by the flooding, said Belio Kipsang, the principal secretary for education.
However, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said that “the schools will reopen as scheduled” following the mid-term holidays this month.
Kenyans have been warned to stay on alert, with more heavy rains forecast across the country in coming days as the monsoon batters East Africa.
The flooding has been compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.
A naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, El Nino can lead to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.
Meanwhile, at least 155 people have been killed in flooding and landslides in neighbouring Tanzania.