Floods wreak havoc at the Kenya coast

Over 5000 people in Taveta, Taita Taveta County at the Kenya coast have been displaced by floods after heavy rains pounded the area and neighbouring Tanzania.

Residents of Bura Ndogo, Kimorigo, Bahati, Vikwatani, Njoro Kubwa and Chechewa villages were most affected by the floods.

Taveta Red Cross coordinator Joram Oranga said over 900 households were affected.

“The water is still flowing so we cannot do much now. We are waiting for the water to stop flowing then we will know the exact number of people affected by the floods,” he said.

Rendered homeless

Women and children were forced to sleep in the cold on Friday, Saturday and Sunday after they were rendered homeless by the floods.

“I was forced to carry my four-months-old baby on my back the whole night. We have nowhere to sleep with my other four children. Today they could not go to school because their books and school uniform were all washed away by the floods,” said a Bahati resident, Ms Pamela Kileta.

The residents blamed the contractor of the Voi-Taveta highway for diverting water into their homes.

They said they had made numerous complaints to China City Construction Company which directed drainages for water from Mount Kilimanjaro towards the village.

Their latrines

“We have lived here for many years and we had never experienced floods until the road construction started. The frustrating thing is that the contractor is not doing anything to stop this,” she said.

Residents expressed fears of outbreak of water-borne diseases as their latrines have been submerged in water.

Hundreds of acres of banana plantations in Kimorigo were also submerged.

Taveta sub-county administrator Catherine Zawadi said they were waiting for the Red Cross report for them to know how many people had been affected by the floods.

“After we get the report, will then know what kind of help we will give them,” she said.