Wanjiru Macharia

4 January 2010

Nairobi — A child was swept away by raging flood waters in Laikipia. Turkana District recorded at least five deaths. The provincial administrator said 3,700 people had been displaced and 2,955 domestic animals among them camels, donkeys, sheep and goats washed away

Scores of villages in Turkana West were marooned after the dry valley they settled on when River Kerio changed course in 1967, suddenly retraced its former route and the death toll from floods wreaking havoc in parts of the country rose to 20.

In Embu and Lodwar, prisoners were left high and dry after torrential rains washed away their buildings.

Red Cross estimates that 60,000 people are affected by the floods with 30,000 in dire need of emergency aid. including foodstuff, tents and medical equipment. It is feared that the regions could be hit by a cholera outbreak due to deteriorating sanitary conditions and lack of clean water. Several villages in Turkana East were affected because people had settled on a dry river bed after River Kerio changed its course way back in 1967.

“The river changed its course many years ago and people decided to settle in its way, but unfortunately, it went back to its way after the heavy rains sweeping away homes and livestock,” a Red Cross spokesman explained. “There is not much rain in the most affected district; the water is flowing from Cherangany Hills, and we are monitoring the situation there,”

Additional report by Walter Menya