According to a government official on Tuesday, approximately 4,000 families have been displaced due to recent flooding in Kenya.
Raymond Omollo, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, stated, “The counties of Busia and Kisumu have been among the hardest hit following heavy rains last week, resulting in the displacement of 3,970 families. This situation is primarily attributed to the overflowing of the Nzoia, Nyando, Yala, Miriu, and Awach rivers.”
He indicated that the government intends to relocate at-risk communities into safer housing and to redesign river corridors to be 30 meters wide along watercourses and other significant bodies of water to help prevent future displacements.
“The government will provide support to the affected communities, who are currently seeking shelter in camps set up within various schools,” he added, as rainfall continues to fall across the East African nation.
The Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc, had forecasted in November that eight countries in the Horn of Africa—Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, and South Sudan—would experience above-normal rainfall, raising the risk of potential flooding.
