Nairobi — Kenyan President William Ruto called a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss measures to address deadly floods that have killed nearly 170 people and displaced another 185,000 since March, his office said. Heavier-than-usual monsoon rains, compounded by the El Niño weather pattern, have devastated the east African country, along with neighboring Tanzania, engulfing villages and threatening to cause even more damage in the coming weeks.
In the worst incident, which killed nearly 50 villagers, a makeshift dam exploded in the Rift Valley region before dawn on Monday, sending torrents of mud and water gushing downhill and swallowing everything in its path. It was the deadliest incident episode in history. the country since the beginning of the rainy season.
So far, 169 people have died in flood-related disasters, according to government data.
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The cabinet will “discuss additional measures” to address the crisis, Ruto said Monday on the sidelines of a summit of African leaders and the World Bank in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
“My government is going to… make sure that citizens who are victims of climate change, who today are suffering floods, landslides, are taken care of,” he said.
The Rift Valley deluge cut a road, uprooted trees and swept away homes and vehicles, devastating the village of Kamuchiri in Nakuru County.
Forty-seven people died, Nakuru County Health Minister Jacqueline Osoro told AFP on Tuesday.
“This morning we lost one person who was in the HDU (high dependency unit), so we have reached 47 deaths,” he said, adding that the figure could increase as 76 people are still feared missing.
Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika said 110 people were being treated in hospital.
Opposition politicians and pressure groups have accused the government of being unprepared and reacting slowly despite weather warnings, demanding that it declare a national disaster.
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Kenya’s main opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Tuesday that authorities had not drawn up “advance contingency plans” for the extreme weather.
“The government has been talking a lot about climate change, but when the threat comes in full force, we are caught off guard,” he said. “Therefore, we have been forced to plan, search and rescue at the same time.”
The weather has also left a trail of destruction in neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have died in floods and landslides.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, flooding claimed the lives of four people on Monday, according to the Fire and Disaster Risk Management Commission.