Authorities have warned residents living in flood-prone areas of Mombasa to be on the lookout as heavy rainfall started pouring on Saturday evening.
Coast regional coordinator John Elungata expressed concern over early reports that some areas in the county had begun to flood and asked the public to take precautionary measures.
“We are informed that in Kisauni, especially Junda, is beginning to flood and we could lose some houses. We want people to move to higher ground,” Elungata said.
A heavy rainfall alert issued by the Meteorological department last Thursday said several parts of the country were expected to experience rainfall of more than 20mm in 24 hours starting Thursday to Monday.
“High rainfall intensity is expected over the Northeastern, Central and Coast regions,” the weatherman said.
“Residents in all mentioned areas are advised to be on the lookout for potential flash floods. Flood water may suddenly appear even in places where it has not rained heavily and can be deeper and faster than they look."
Kenya Red Cross County coordinator Rajab Mohamed said their disaster monitoring and response teams on the ground are keeping close tabs on developments and are ready to respond to emergencies.
He mentioned some of the hotspot areas across Changamwe, Mvita and Kisauni areas.
Residents of Kalahari, Bokole, Bangladesh, Junda and Moroto among others, have been told to be on the lookout and possibly move to higher grounds.
By Sunday, there had been no reports of marooned houses or structural damages caused by the rains.
In Likoni, a local Disaster Management Committee (DMC) leader said the heavy rain that poured for a better part of Saturday and into the night had turned sections of streets and roads into water pools.
Nothing serious was, however, reported.
Mtongwe DMC chair Ali Bela complained that the county government has not quickly responded to concerns raised earlier about addressing local drainage systems.
“There are places like Mweza and Vijiweni which are prone to flooding and we have been asking the relevant offices to put up drainage systems that will direct floodwaters to the ocean but little has been done,” he said.
Edited by R.Wamochie
