- Police said the quartet died in separate incidents in Matungulu, Kangundo and Athi River East sub-counties on Wednesday.
- Matungulu subcounty police commander Peter Omondi said the duo died while undergoing treatment at Kangundo Level 4 hospital.
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Four people have died in flood tragedies in Machakos County.
Police said the quartet died in separate incidents in Matungulu, Kangundo and Athi River East sub-counties on Wednesday.
In the first incident, Susan Muoki and her 14-year-old grandson went to inspect their pit latrine that was being repaired when it caved in with both of them as a result of heavy rains.
Matungulu subcounty police commander Peter Omondi said the duo died while undergoing treatment at Kangundo Level 4 hospital.
"They were rescued and rushed to Kangundo Level 4 hospital for treatment by the police where they succumbed," Omondi told the Star on Wednesday.
Omondi said the bodies were moved to the same hospital's mortuary pending an autopsy.
Elsewhere in Kangundo, a man reportedly died after his house was washed away by floods in Kyandili village on Wednesday.
The deceased is said to have been inside the house when the incident happened.
Police removed the body to Kangundo Level 4 hospital mortuary awaiting a postmortem.
In the Athi River East subcounty within the same Machakos County, a 5-year-old boy reportedly died after he drowned in the Viraj area in the Katani location on Wednesday.
The matter was reported to SNP police station at 1.30 pm by the minor's father as a drowning incident report.
"It was established that a child aged 5 years was playing with another child next to a construction site. It was then that the deceased slipped into an underground water tank and drowned to death," a police officer privy to the incident told the Star.
The body was moved to Shalom Community Hospital mortuary awaiting an autopsy.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives attached to Mlolongo police station have launched a probe into the incident.
These incidents raise the flood-related death toll to sixteen people in Machakos County.
Machakos County Commissioner Josephine Ouko had on Tuesday divulged that twelve people had died due to flood-related tragedy by April 30, 2024.
The deaths happened even as motorists got stuck along the Nairobi - Kangundo road after River Athi Bridge in Kamulu was overflown by waters due to heavy downpours.
The incident cut off transport between Nairobi City and Kangundo Town.
Elsewhere at Oldonyo Sabuk in Matungulu subcounty, a man's home was marooned by flood waters making him stranded in the area.
There were calls for a chopper from the government to help rescue the man from where he was trapped by press time.