Smoke, shooting water, sinkhole near flooded Lake Baringo

The ground sank, then smoke poured out, water splashed out in a fountain and a sinkhole opened.

Hundreds of terrified residents of O’Loropil village in Ilchamus ward, Baringo South, fled their land near flooded Lake Baringo on Tuesday.

Lakes in the seismically active Rift Valley have overflowed as the area is shaken by strange geological phenomena that go beyond heavy rains. Fissures have opened, tremors are felt, the water isn’t receding.

“We first watched the ground sink, followed by unusual smoke before the surface broke loose and caved in, instantly forming a pool of water,” resident Dominic Lemerige said.

The round sinkhole is 10 to 12 feet in diameter and water has settled, for the time being, about a foot below the rim. 

Lemerige linked the  sinkhole to rising water levels in nearby Lake Baringo, Lake 94 and saline Lake Bogoria.

“Surprisingly the water has never filled the sinkhole to the top, causing residents more worries,” Lemerige said. “We don’t even know its depth.”

Baringo South subcounty administrator Hellen Juma urged residents to move to safer ground to avert casualties.

“We never know what might happen next. Maybe another dangerous disaster may occur, causing entire villages to sink,” she said.

She urged everyone, especially young children, to stay away.

Residents also report earthquakes and tremors felt as far as 10 kilometres from the lake.

“The tremors usually occur at night, causing the earth’s surface to shiver, shaking homesteads. People feel like everything is about to fall down,” Loruk resident Alex Sarit said.

Ilchamus MCA Joseph Ole Parsalach said deep cracks have opened on islands in Lake Baringo.

“All these could be signals of something dangerous underway,” he said.

Baringo Governor Stanley Kiptis has urged the national government to send geologists to study the area and determine the cause of flooding, fissures, earthquakes and now sinkholes.

“This is the worst thing to have ever happened in our lake since time immemorial,” Kiptis said on Tuesday. He urged residents to swiftly relocate to safer grounds. Many already have fled the flooding.

He was speaking while distributing food and supplies to thousands of flood victims in the Kampi Ndege Internally Displaced Persons camp in Marigat ward, Baringo South.

Displaced 

The flooding lakes have so far displaced more than 30,000 residents.

Lake Baringo is the second largest lake in Rift Valley after Lake Turkana.

 “We are appealing for more food and non-food items like tents, utensils, mosquito nets and warm clothes,” Kiptis said.

Businesses, schools, churches, hotels, dispensaries and other buildings have been swamped and some have been submerged.

Apart from the swollen lakes, Rivers Perkera, El’Molo and Ol’ Arabal- feeding the lakes - have also burst their banks, flooding Ng’ambo, Elbunyaki, Sintaan, Salabani and other villages.

Last week, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa visited the lake and attributed the rising water levels to climate change. He said the government is committed to helping residents.

Some geologists have said the ground is not capable of containing so much water and channelling it, so it rises to the surface.

(Edited by V. Graham)