Heavy rains in Turkana and its environs have claimed three lives, while over 2,000 households were on Friday night forced to spend the night in the cold.
The heavy rains caused rivers to burst their banks and displaced families living along the river line and low lands.
Kawalase seasonal and Turkwel rivers on Friday flooded and burst their banks, disrupting business and transport, displaced people and killed more than 3,000 shoats.
Turkana county Commissioner Wambua Muthama confirmed that two men from Lodwar died, and a woman from Kalokol was struck to death by lightning on Friday.
“There are rescue efforts by members of the public, the county government and Redcross officials responding to the emergency, saving lives of people and livestock. Residents living in the low land region are advised to move to upper land to avoid the floods,” he said.
Muthama warned residents to not consume the carcasses of shoats as they might be contaminated by floodwater.
Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok, when assessing the affected regions in Lodwar on Saturday, assured residents that teams assessing the area will provide emergency kits and also supply food to the affected victims.
He said flooding experienced on Friday has affected most regions of Turkana and damaged boreholes, Lodwar livestock and fish market, Lodwar Prison infrastructure, government facilities such as the Lands office, where records and equipment were destroyed.
“We have not experienced such flooding before. The intensity of the water was very high resulting in blockage of water resources. Nine out of 12r boreholes that supply water to about 70,000 people in Lodwar were destroyed. We are trying our best to fix them immediately to avoid water shortage,” he said.
Governor Nanok said primary and secondary schools were not spared as floods destroyed equipment and school materials.
“Almost 2,000 households have been displaced and over 3,000 goats and sheep (shoats) have been swept by flooding water. Traders are the most affected victims as they have incurred heavy losses,” he said.
Nanok said the rapid assessment team will continue to quantify the damage and will communicate the loss suffered.
Business people and commuters plying the Kitale, Lodwar, Lokichogio route to Juba, South Sudan, were stranded at the banks of rivers and forced to wait for floodwater to subdue.
Stephen Lowoi, a truck driver plying the Lodwar Juba route, said the flooded Kawalase River was impassable, forcing him to spend the night in the cold waiting for the water top reduce,
“Kawalase River is known for sweeping away vehicles when flooded. There is no way I could risk to cross it. I have wasted a lot of time on the banks yet am carrying goods that am supposed to offload in Juba,” he said.
Lowoi has urged the government to monitor the work of Chinese contractors to ensure a bridge is built on time.
Lucy Ekuwom, a vendor at Lodwar town, said she is counting heavy loses as some of her goods were swept away in the market.
Ann Lochodo, a resident of Lodwar said her house was submerged, forcing her to spend the night in the cold.
She said she could not save her goods in the house as she was struggling to save her children.
“I thought it was just a normal rain but I later realised River Kawalase and River Turkwel had broken their banks as it was raining heavily in other parts of Turkana. The flash floods from Turkwel River entered my house and swept everything. We stay almost 200 metres from the banks,” she said.
She has called the county government and other humanitarian agencies to help her out as she has no house to live and yet she is supposed to take care of her children.
