1000 people displaced by floods in Turkana

More than 1,000 people in Turkana County have been left homeless following heavy rains that have been pounding the area.

This comes after Rivers Turkwel and Kawalazee burst their banks, sweeping away the Soweto, Napetet, Kalifonia and Nakerekei villages.

Transport has been paralyzed due to the floods that have rendered roads impassable from Lodwar to Kalokol, Kakuma and Lokichogio.

Schools in the area have also been affected.

Cases of flooding resulting to loss of lives and property worth millions have been reported in the country since 2015 as a result of the El Nino rains.

In December 2015, it was reported that close to 50,000 Kenyans had been displaced and were living in 85 displacement camps in the country following heavy rainfall.

Tana River County was the most hit after the seven forks hydro generating dams flooded.

IGAD’s Climate Prediction and Applications Centre’s Director Guleid Arton, had warned that the El Nino rains experienced in the country were not yet over, but were expected to subside.

Arton said countries within the equatorial region such as Kenya and Ethiopia had experienced advanced rainfall, while areas such as Northern Somalia experienced a decrease in rainfall.

Pete Manfield, who heads the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, had said that over 100 people had been killed by the floods caused by the rains in Kenya.

Manfield highlighted that 300,000 people had been displaced by floods in the four countries; Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia.

Scientists had warned that the El Nino weather could be the worst in Kenya’s history, surpassing the infamous 1997-1998 rains.