• The trench, which was submerged, had been left uncovered by road builders
• In Nyatike sub-county, over 300 families have been displaced as streams and rivers broke their banks
The body of an 11-year-old boy was on Monday found floating in a roadside trench in Migori county where 300 families have been displaced by floods.
John Junior, a pupil at Kondoro Primary School in Rongo, drowned in the trench left unfilled by road builders.
In Nyatike sub-county, over 300 families in Nyora, Angugo, Kabuto and North Kadem have been displaced as streams and rivers broke their banks in heavy rains.
South West Kamagambo chief Maurice Ayieko told the Star that the boy's body was floating in the trench. He had been missing since Sunday evening.
“The deceased was walking home and waded in the water (in the trench) thinking it was a puddle,” Ayieko said.
The body was removed to Rosewood hospital mortuary.
In Nyatike, families are camping in schools, churches and chiefs' camps. The number is expected to rise as the weatherman said more rains are expected in the coming weeks.
At Ageng’a chief's camp residents blamed the flooding on a poorly done outlet at the Lower Kuja irrigation scheme and sand harvesting.
“The irrigation scheme has come with devastating effects on locals. Nearly the entire village is at the risk of being submerged,” flood victim Jane Atieno said.
Atieno's two-room mud house was swept away on Friday night. Her children survived by a whisker.
Elder Peter Polo Orwa said residents fear that the banks of rivers Kuja and Migori will burst and sweep them away.
North Kadem MCA Lucas Wagai called for government’s intervention to save residents from water-borne diseases.
“The government should find a lasting solution to the perennial floods in this area. Locals lack essentials like mosquito nets, bedding and clothes,” he said.
Lowe Kuja Irrigation Scheme engineer Nesline Ogwe said they were not to blame for the floods, adding that a lasting solution will be found after the completion of the Sh5 billion project by the National Irrigation Board.
“The floods are everywhere in the country and we cannot solely blame it on the scheme,” he said.