NAIROBI, Kenya- For months, severe rains, flash floods, and rising river levels in several parts of Kenya have resulted in road closures, livestock and property losses, thousands of people displaced, and damage to infrastructure.
The extended rainy season often lasts from March to May in the larger East African region.
Yet, this year’s El Nino weather pattern has caused more rainfall than usual in countries like Kenya.
This publication understands that the El Nino weather pattern is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon associated with increased heat worldwide.
It leads to drought in some parts of the world and heavy downpours elsewhere.
Cyclone Hidaya, which hit neighbouring Tanzania on May 4, raised concerns. Although the first storm to reach Kenya caused moderate damage, meteorologists predicted more rain and flooding throughout the month.
As of a May 8 update from Kenya’s government spokesman, Isaac Mwaura, at least 257 people had died as a result of the flooding, and around 188 people were still missing.
Furthermore, around 55,000 houses had experienced displacement, impacting over 293,000 individuals.
The statement claimed that crops had been devastated on about 10,000 acres, posing a great threat to Kenya’s food security.
In the town of Mai Mahiu, a one-hour drive from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, at least 48 people died after a blocked old railway tunnel burst.
The April 29 tragedy will remain forever etched in the minds of families who have lost their loved ones.
The raging floods in Kenya didn’t spare learning institutions. Some schools were submerged in floodwaters, and others were left grappling with damaged classrooms.
Some parents believed that swept-away toilets would be another disaster.
Hundreds of flood-displaced households were forced to take refuge in some places, such as buildings and grounds.
According to Save the Children, Kenya’s heavy rains and flooding destroyed or submerged 62 primary schools.
This increased the risk of waterborne infections and left over 15,000 children without a place to learn as schools reopened on Monday, May 13.
A report released by the Ministry of Education showed the extent of damage caused to schools as well as health facilities and homes by raging floods that killed more than 250 people and displaced over 250,000 people since mid-March 2024.
Schools reopening had already been postponed twice to ensure children’s safety.
At the end of April, the Ministry of Interior issued eviction orders to thousands of residents living near rivers, dams, and other flood-prone locations.
The authorities started demolishing houses constructed in locations vulnerable to flooding.
On May 6, President William Ruto announced that evicted residents whose houses had been demolished would get KSh 10,000 ($75) to relocate after a deadline to leave for safer grounds had passed.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga warned the ruling Kenya Kwanza government against demolishing more houses without a resettlement plan.
This is even as Mwaura observed that flooding was expected in low-lying urban and riparian areas.
The government spokesperson said landslides and mudslides could occur in areas with steep slopes, escarpments, and ravines.
“We nevertheless advise all Kenyans to stay safe and to adhere to the weather forecast and evacuation notices provided by the government and other agencies,” Mwaura said in a statement.
However, Guyo Roba, Head of the Jameel Observatory in the Policies, Institutions, and Livelihood Program at ILRI, warned of a looming drought after the Kenyan floods.
He said people recover from droughts more quickly because of self-regulation and a self-reconstruction system.
“The government has to have a better mechanism to view this as a more significant issue that has never been encountered before,” Guyo told this publication in an exclusive interview.
The expert in livestock farming reiterated that the climate crisis would not be a human activity but would be the cause of the drought.
“Therefore, we must adapt our intervention to this new reality, whether by helping our farmers create a more effective market or by developing early warning systems to minimize losses,” he said.
Guyo said a pool fund was needed to help people restock their animals and achieve better financial alignment.
Meanwhile, many Kenyans believed that the government’s lack of investment made the floods worse, even if climate factors like El Nino—the warming of the Pacific Ocean’s surface water that results in high rainfall in various regions of the world—have been connected to the rise in the rain.
Human Rights Watch noted that despite the weatherman’s May 2018 predictions, Kenya would have more rainfall due to El Nino. This pattern would last until 2024, but the government still needs to do something.
The government did not provide a plan of action, but it set aside at least KSh 10 billion ($80 million) in anticipation of a national response.
However, in October 2023, President Ruto erroneously stated that El Nino rainfall would not be experienced in Kenya, contrary to predictions.
The Kenya Meteorological Department predicts that the rain will last until June 2024.
This came as Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration Kithure Kindiki declared a public holiday on Friday, May 10, 2024.
In a gazette notice dated May 8, 2024, Kindiki said the public would be engaged in tree growing countrywide.
Kindiki acknowledged that climate change’s effects threaten Kenya’s ecological sustainability, public safety, and national security.
He also said that the government was doing this in solidarity with all those negatively impacted by the cyclic floods and subsequent droughts.
The CS declared that planting trees was the only long-term solution to the climate crisis and its devastating effects on life and livelihoods.
