The Red Cross announced on Monday that a minimum of 15 individuals lost their lives in Kenya due to the destructive impact of floods, which washed away numerous houses and caused extensive damage to farmland as a result of heavy rainfall.
In the past few days, Kenya has experienced relentless heavy rainfall, particularly affecting the drought-stricken north, resulting in flooding inside homes and inundating roadways. Similar situations have unfolded in various regions across East Africa.
“As of yesterday, 15,264 households have been affected, with 15 casualties reported,” the Kenya Red Cross said on X, formerly Twitter.
The statement also indicated that over 1,000 livestock have perished, and a minimum of 240 acres (97 hectares) of agricultural farmland has been ruined.
The United Nations’ humanitarian agency, OCHA, reported last month that eastern Africa was expected to experience above-average rainfall during the October-December period due to the El Nino phenomenon.
Kenya’s Meteorological Department issued a warning last week, cautioning that the heavy rains were likely to be accompanied by strong gusty winds.
“The strong winds may blow off roofs, uproot trees and cause structural damages,” it said in an advisory.
Images featured on local media have depicted entire villages submerged in floodwaters, prompting residents to evacuate to higher ground.
Dramatic footage captured a civilian helicopter conducting a rescue operation to evacuate individuals stranded in a lorry in Samburu county, located approximately 300 kilometers (190 miles) to the north of the capital city, Nairobi.
El Nino is a naturally recurring weather pattern characterized by elevated global temperatures, leading to drought in certain regions and intense rainfall in others.
During the onset of the current rainy season, the Ethiopian Somali region has witnessed over 20 fatalities and the displacement of more than 12,000 individuals from their homes as a result of flash flooding, as reported by the regional government over the weekend.
According to a situation report issued by OCHA on Saturday, a minimum of 14 individuals have lost their lives in Somalia.
“At least 47,100 people have relocated to higher grounds to avoid the risk of flooding,” the agency said, adding that the downpours had cut off access to markets and farmland in some areas.
The Horn of Africa stands as one of the world’s most susceptible regions to climate change, where extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe.
Since late 2020, Somalia, along with portions of Ethiopia and Kenya, has been grappling with the most severe drought in the region in four decades.
In late 2019, a minimum of 265 individuals perished, and tens of thousands were forced to leave their homes during two months of incessant rainfall that affected multiple countries in East Africa.
The severe weather conditions impacted nearly two million individuals and resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of livestock in Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
