County directs flood water to dam for future use

The County Government of Kirinyaga has embarked on a project to unblock and dig new canals in flood prone areas in a bid to control floods occasioned by the ongoing rains and direct the water to a dam for future use.

For the last two weeks, Kirinyaga County has been experiencing heavy rainfall that has led to floods and the destruction of property in Ngomongo, Kagio, Mbitika and Kariua villages.

The County Disaster Committee and National Irrigation Board (NIB) recently deployed excavators in the highly flooded areas where tunnels were dug to direct water to the main river.

NIB engineer Chris Opindo noted that the trenches would serve as a long-term solution to the flood menace, adding that the water will also be directed to Thiba Dam to be used for irrigation during dry periods.

Kirinyaga’s minister of Agriculture, Peter Ngundo, stated that the county is ready with emergency food, medicine and non-food items.

The county has also focused its efforts on health by deploying social workers to educate residents on hygiene and sanitation issues.

The continuing heavy rains in the country have left a trail of destruction in their wake, with thousands displaced and property, including crops, destroyed due to floods.

On Sunday, a middle-aged woman died after she was swept away by floods at Maungu area in Voi, Taita Taveta County.

Last week, acres of farmland and crops were swept away by floods in Garissa after river Tana burst its banks and flooded more than 300 farms situated nearby.

The meteorological department predicts that the rain could go on for a longer period due to the ongoing El Nino phenomenon.

Last week, the United Nations children’s fund (UNICEF) speculated that some 11 million children in eastern and southern Africa face hunger, disease and water shortages as a result of the strongest El Niño weather phenomenon in decades.

Food and water shortages caused by drought and floods are causing malnutrition, which increases children’s vulnerability to killer diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, cholera and dengue fever, it said.

“The consequences could ripple through generations unless affected communities receive support,” UNICEF said in a statement, referring to stunting, which affects children who are getting too few proteins, vitamins and minerals in their food.

Stunted children have poor cognitive development and health, achieve less at school and, as adults, earn less than children who had adequate nutrition, studies show.