Houses submerged, roads impassible as floods wreak havoc in Mombasa

Several houses were submerged and roads rendered impassable after the floods wreaked havoc in Bamburi, Mombasa County.

This is as the rains continued to ponder the region.

At Lake View estate, for instance, the water levels reached knee-high.

"I have never seen this before. I have lived here for 10 years and this is the first I have seen this," Horace Awiti, a resident, said.

He said the car he had parked outside was also affected.

"I don't know if the car will start now. I am still thinking of what to do," he said.

Boda boda operators like Kennedy Musuko said the business had been affected as rains continued to ponder the region.

"I came to work at 6 am and I got the first client at 8.30 am. Normally, by this time, I would have made about Sh600," Musuko said.

At Bamburi Mwisho stage, there were few matatus.

The matatu operators had however hiked fires.

In Utange, houses were submerged. This left the residents stranded as most of them left their homes to go to neighbouring houses.

In the midst of all this, Matatus and tuktuks had to take alternative routes avoiding the main road which was flooded at Kwa Sonko stage.

Rains are expected to reduce slightly towards the weekend.

The Met Department's five-day forecast shows most places are likely to receive rain, but intensities may reduce slightly.

Only the North-western counties of Turkana and Samburu counties are expected to experience dry weather from Friday.

“Rainfall is expected to continue over most parts of the country,” the head of the Meteorological Department Dr David Gikungu said.

“Isolated storms are likely to occur in some parts of the Highlands East and West of the Rift Valley, the South-eastern lowlands, the Coast and Northeastern Kenya.”