The government of Kenya announced on Tuesday that at least 91 people are missing following severe flooding in the nation’s capital, Nairobi, following weeks of intense rain and flash floods that devastated several areas of the nation.
Following flooding close to the heavily affected community of Mai Mahiu, northwest of Nairobi, over 76 persons are missing. First responders and locals told CNN that the catastrophe was brought on by water rushing through an obstructed culvert beneath a railroad bridge. 71 persons have been officially declared dead as a result of the tragedy thus far.
According to government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura, there are still ten persons missing in eastern Kenya; four of them are in Nairobi County and one is in the coastline area that faces the Indian Ocean.
190,942, which is around 5,000 people more than on Monday, Kenyans have also been forced from their homes due to the flooding, Mwaura said. “Nairobi County is the worst hit with 147,000 fellow Kenyans being displaced and, therefore, it accounts for 77% of all the displacement in the country,” he said.
Mwaura stated that in order to offer individuals impacted by the flooding “with alternative temporary accommodation,” the government has established 52 “displacement camps,” an increase of two since Monday.
A resident, a motorbike taxi driver, told CNN he had given gasoline for a power saw being used to chop down uprooted trees. “Ask the government to send us excavators,” he said.
Kenyan President William Ruto ordered the military to send forces to assist in the search for missing persons.
