(Nairobi) At least 42 people have died in Kenya after a dam burst northwest of the capital Nairobi, while the country is swept by torrential rains with deadly consequences and keeps its schools closed.
“42 dead is a provisional toll. There are others trapped in the mud that we are working to find,” said local governor Susan Kihika.
The dam burst near the town of Mai Mahiu, in Nakuru County, in the Rift Valley, about 100 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, sweeping away homes and submerging roads now cut off to traffic.
Monday’s disaster brings the total death toll for the wet season (March-May) to 120.
The Kenyan Red Cross announced on Monday that it had found two bodies after the capsize of a boat carrying “a large number of people” this weekend on the swollen Tana River in the east of the country. 23 people were rescued, according to the same source. Videos shared online show the crowded boat sinking with screaming passengers.
On Friday, the Kenyan government called on the population to prepare for new, even heavier rains, and reported an initial toll of 76 victims who had lost their lives in floods since March.
Kenya and a large part of East Africa have been swept by seasonal rains for several weeks, heavier than usual, due to the El Niño climatic phenomenon.
Schools closed
Flash floods submerged roads and entire neighborhoods, displacing more than 130,000 people in Kenya, many of them in the capital Nairobi, according to official figures released on Saturday.
Schools had to remain closed after the last holidays, with the Ministry of Education announcing on Monday that the start of the school year was being postponed by a week due to “ongoing heavy rain”.
“The devastating effect of the rain on some schools is so great that it would be unwise to risk the lives of schoolchildren and staff,” said Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu.
“Based on this assessment, the Ministry of Education has decided to postpone the start of the school year in all primary and secondary schools by one week, to Monday May 6, 2024,” he added.
Uninterrupted rain
The monsoon also wreaked havoc in neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people died in floods or landslides.
In Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries, some 96,000 people have been displaced by months of uninterrupted rain, the United Nations and the government announced earlier this month.
Uganda also suffered severe storms that caused flooding, killing at least two people and displacing hundreds of villagers.
In 2018, in the same Nakuru county where Mai Mahiu is located, the rupture of the Solai dam caused by torrential rains and floods had already left 48 dead, releasing millions of liters of muddy water devastating for homes and power lines.
The El Niño weather phenomenon, believed to contribute to the current situation, is generally associated with higher global temperature, which causes droughts in some regions and floods in others.
Late last year, more than 300 people died from rains and floods in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, as the region attempted to recover from its worst drought in 40 years that left millions of people with hunger.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported in March that the current El Niño was one of the five strongest on record.