More than
15 families were on Monday night displaced by landslides in several areas in Murang’a.
In one of the incidents, property worth Sh20 million was destroyed at Marumi coffee factory in Kigumo sub-county.
One security guard was also injured.
In the neighbouring
Gachocho village, a child was buried alive but rescued and rushed to hospital by villagers.
Murang’a county commissioner John Elungata who visited the area said the 15 families have been taken to Mariira Agricultural Training Centre where they will be accommodated until the rains subside.
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He said the
Kangema Kigumo Kandara road commonly known as Nyoka Nyoka has been closed down for several days after experiencing several landslides.
Elungata said there are five landslides along the road that may take days to clear.
He advised motorists to find alternative routes.
“We have asked the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) to dispatch tractors to help clear the mud off the road,” he added.
The commissioner also appealed to residents living along the upper side of the road to vacate their homes and seek shelter from neighbours.
This, he said, will avert a repeat of the landslides in Mathioya and Kiharu sub-counties that claimed the lives of five people three weeks ago.
“We will support all the families that have been affected, even those that will be hosted by their neighbours,” Elungata noted.
He said chiefs will be going around the villages in a bid to convince people whose farms have developed cracks and fault lines to relocate.
Meanwhile, over 30 families from Gitugu village in Kangema sub-county are also living in fear after major cracks formed across the village, destroying their houses.
According to local county government administrator Kuria Thuita, geologists visited the area on Monday and advised villagers to vacate until the rains sub side.
The geologists, he said, explained that there was too much groundwater in the area.
“Residents have now sought shelter in neighbouring villages and only go back during daytime to check on their livestock. Some are however moving even their cows for fear of landslides,” Kuria noted.
In Kiharu sub-county, over 30 families have also been displaced after Maragua river burst its banks and flooded Miriira village.
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