The Kenya Red Cross Society has created 59 camps to accommodate displaced people. The disaster also hit the school system hard, more than 100 schools were seriously damaged or completely destroyed.
L’Osservatore Romano
The Kenyan government reported on Sunday that the number of deaths in the country due to floods and other disasters caused by heavy rains that have not stopped falling since March reached 228.
Approaching Tropical Cyclone Hidaya brought heavier than normal rainfall to coastal regions, but no damage or casualties were reported. If in Tanzania the cyclone did not pose a danger to the country, in Kenya it caused large waves, strong winds and rain that could intensify in the coming days.
Climate disasters are causing irreparable damage to the community, such as what happened on the night of Saturday to Sunday, when the Nyando River, in the Lake Victoria region, flooded and submerged homes, shops, schools, a hospital and a police station , in addition to invading the Kisumu-Kisumu highway. “This means motorists cannot cross the main road bridge, creating a major transport crisis,” said an Ahero police officer.
According to government data, more than 200 people lost their lives due to bad weather and another 72 have been missing since the beginning of March. More than 210,000 people were displaced “by choice or lack thereof”, said government spokesman Isaac Mwaura.
The Kenyan Interior Minister ordered all people living near large bodies of water or these 178 “dams or artificial reservoirs full or nearly full of water” to evacuate the area. He also warned of the risk of water-borne diseases, such as cholera.
Also speaking was the director general of the International Federation of Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies (IFRC), Jagan Chapagain, who declared, through the “X” platform, that forecasts of new rainfall raise “great concerns of a crisis even greater humanitarianism”.
