The Meteorological Department has put on high alert communities living around flooded lakes in the Rift Valley as the short rains start across the country.
With the rains expected to continue for the next one month, Met has warned that water levels in the flooded lakes could rise further in the coming weeks, raising fears of more displacements.
In the last couple of months, lakes Naivasha, Elementaita, Bogoria, Baringo and Turkana have risen sharply, displacing hundreds of families and flooding neighbouring farms.
Met director Stella Aura said the short rains would continue for the rest of the month.
“With the short rains, we expect the lake levels to rise further and the concerned department should put in place mitigation measures to assist affected families,” Aura said.
She noted that it would take over a year for the lakes to return to their normal levels, meaning more suffering for the affected families.
Speaking during a consultative meeting on the rising lakes, Aura said ongoing rains in parts of Western Kenya and the lakes' catchment had contributed to the current levels.
She noted that since November last year, the catchment areas of the lakes had recorded continuous rains leading to flooding and displacement of tens of families.
“The lakes have risen slowly but it will take months for the levels to rescind and hence the need to support the affected families,” she said.
Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui expressed his concern over the health status in Kihoto and Mwariki estates in Naivasha and Nakuru towns respectively.
Speaking on Monday, he noted that tens of latrines in the two informal estates had been flooded, raising fears of a disease outbreak in the coming days.
“Apart from families being displaced, we have seen businesses closed down due to the rising water levels in nearly all the lakes,” he said.
He welcomed the move by the government to form a technical committee to study the new phenomena.
“In Nakuru, tourism, hospitality industry and flower farming has been adversely affected by the floods and we need to come up with short and long-term measures,” he said.
Close to 5,000 families in the county had been displaced by the rising lakes with fears that the numbers could rise in the coming days, the governor said.
“The short rains have kicked off meaning that the lake levels will rise further and in the process displace more families,” he said.
