Hundreds of residents of Bandi village in the Tana Delta have finally heeded the call to move from their flooded homes to safer grounds as water levels continue rising each day.
The mass exodus of men, women, and children carrying household items and foodstuff were seen walking for long distances from the village to the main road from early in the morning.
There were fears that water would flood their over 300 homes anytime as some houses had already begun to be submerged.
Those who had money hired boda bodas and tuk-tuks while those without cash opted to walk the stretch, which is about 5km to reach the main Garsen-Lamu highway to wait for help.
Garsen MP Ali Wario organised a truck to ferry household items for all the affected, an exercise which by Thursday evening was still going on.
By the time the Kenya Red Cross officials, led by Coast regional manager Hassan Musa, arrived in the village, most of the households were empty and the few remaining were packing their belongings to move to safety.
Some expectant women and young children were seen on the way with what they could carry to ensure that they were not cut off.
Normally during floods, Bandi village is cut off from the main road making it difficult for the villagers to access safe areas.
Hussein Roba, a resident of Bandi who was moving out his family belongings on a boda boda, said tension was high as the village was slowly being flooded forcing people to start moving to safer grounds quickly to avoid being stuck.
“Right now, we are just moving out with our household items and heading to the safe place,” he said before riding off towards the main road.
A woman, who identified herself as Mama G from Bandi village, said they had a hard time ferrying their household items as not everyone could afford to hire a boda boda or tuk tuk to the main road.
“We believe you have seen the water levels are very high and alarming now. We are worried as anytime the village could be marooned, that’s why we have put together all the items and our children have begun moving them to the safe zone,” she said.
She appealed to the government and well-wishers to support them with non-food items and food to start living at the IDP camp.
The camp where the Bandi victims have been allocated is called Centre, which is between Minjila and Garsen town junction near the police roadblock.
Hadija Mohamed, a resident of Bandi, said the water levels had reached an alarming point and they had to leave to a safe area.
She said the family has so many household items but cannot afford the costs of hiring boda bodas to transport them, forcing them to carry them on foot.
“We have children but have no money so we have to carry our household items on the head. We appeal for help to get tents and blankets,” she said. One trip of boda boda cost Sh200, which she could not afford.
Hussein Bashora, another resident who was moving his items from the village, said the road is in a bad state and carrying all the household items is expensive.
Abubakar Shora, the personal assistant to Garsen MP Wario, said they have been supporting the locals to move to safety to ensure all of them reach safe grounds, adding that Kenya Red Cross had already brought non-food items to enable the victims to get shelter.
“We urge the national government, county government and well-wishers to come in and support the victims with relief food as the people are in need,” he said.
He said the national government should start utilising the El Nino funds which were set aside as the effect was already being felt in Tana River county.
According to the Kenya Red Cross Society, more than 11,000 households have been affected by the flood disaster in Tana River county alone.
The number could rise as the water levels in the delta are rising each day.
Regional manager Musa said they will provide the 300 families with non-food items. Another NGO called Helping Hand will support the victims with water trucks to ensure they get clean water.
“We have requested them to move to higher grounds and thank God all of them this morning moved to the higher grounds, and this was with the help of the area MP Wario who has supported the community in terms of transporting them to the higher grounds,” he said.’
Musa appealed to all other residents to move to higher grounds to avoid being affected by the floods as the water levels were rising each day and the condition would worsen.
