AT LEAST 45 people have died, including 17 children, after a dam burst in Kenya amid torrential rain and flooding.
The disaster struck last night in the village of Nakuru, sending water gushing down a hill and destroying everything in its path.
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The deluge cut off the city’s main road, uprooted trees, leveled houses and blew up vehicles.
While at least 45 people are confirmed to have died in the devastating incident, police warned the number could rise as rescue operators are still searching for survivors.
A senior official at the Nakuru County Police Headquarters said: “Forty-five bodies have been recovered from the dam tragedy so far, and the team on the ground is overwhelmed, but the search is still going on.”
Susan Kihika, governor of Nakuru, added: “It’s a conservative estimate. There is still more in the mud, we are working on recovery.”
Rescuers are now digging through the rubble, using hoes and, in some cases, just their bare hands in a desperate search for survivors.
Stephen Njihia Njoroge, a local resident involved in the emergency efforts, said 12 people had been taken to safety since the incident occurred.
But for many it was already too late.
“We collected some of the bodies supported by the trees and we don’t know how many are under the mud,” he said.
Schools have been forced to remain closed following the mid-term holidays, after the Ministry of Education announced on Monday that it would postpone their reopening until May 6 due to “continuing heavy rain.”
Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu said: “The devastating effects of the rains on some of the schools are so serious that it will be reckless to risk the lives of students and staff before strict measures are taken to ensure adequate safety.” .
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the government had ordered security and intelligence officials to “inspect all public and private dams and water reservoirs within 24 hours.”
He urged people not to engage in “risky behaviour” and asked people not to transport “passengers across flooded rivers or stormwater in unsafe canoes or boats”.
His comments came after a boat full of people capsized over the weekend in the flooded Tana River county, killing two people.
Video footage shared online and on television showed the crowded ship sinking, with people screaming as onlookers watched in horror.
More than 120 people have died and more than 130,000 have been displaced after weeks of storms and torrential downpours hit Kenya.
The monsoons have also wreaked havoc in neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have died in floods and landslides.
In Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries, around 96,000 people have been displaced by months of incessant rain, the United Nations and the government said earlier this month.
Uganda has also suffered severe storms that caused river banks to overflow, with two confirmed deaths and several hundred villagers displaced.
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