Area member of the county Assembly Mohamed Ali said families were spending on the road side with no shelter and food support.
Hundreds are camping in schools in Garissa town after being displaced.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Thousands of families have been displaced in Garissa town and the neighboring Mororo in Tana River county after River Tana burst its banks.
Displaced families are scattered along the Garissa -Nairobi highway after being displaced by floods on Saturday night.
This is because they could not flee to the nearby Madogo area since a section of the road at Kona Punda has been cut off by flash floods.
Area Member of the County Assembly (MCA) Mohamed Ali said families were spending their days and nights on the roadside with no shelter and food support.
In Garissa town, residents of Bulla Punda, Kamor, Sheikh, Vumbi , Windsor and Bulla Nyuki were forced to move to higher grounds after floods submerged their houses.
Ibrahim Sankus Aden alias Hailow, an 80-year-old elder from Bulla Punda was forced to flee with his family to Jaribu Primary School after their residential houses were marooned by floods.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
“We are just camping in this open-air compound with no tents. We lost several household items and foodstuff in the floods,” Ibrahim said.
He recounted how just four months ago they were forced to camp in the same school after the El Nino rains displaced them.
Aden Hassan Bille was among the internally displaced persons camping at Jaribu Primary School where they came to seek refuge.
Bille is the Garissa county chairperson of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and also serves as the chairman of Bulla Punda residents.
Speaking on behalf of the affected families, Bille called for urgent donation of tents and food to help the affected people.
He said majority of the affected families were spending in the cold after the floods displaced them on Saturday night.
“We are tired of the series of displacement, we need a lasting solution to the endless cycles of the River Tana floods,” Aden said.
Another displaced resident from Bulla Vumbi Bashir Abdi Guhat called on the government to allocate land to the affected families.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
He said the endless flood disaster was causing a lot of destruction and displacement in flood-prone areas in Garissa town.
The Iman of Tawfiq mosque Sheikh Sahal Mohamed said prayer mats and public address system were submerged by the floods.
The affected families were constructing makeshift houses at Jaribu Primary, Kazuko Girls, Hyuga Girls School, North Eastern Police Training Centre, Iftin Primary School and Young Muslim Secondary School in Garissa town.
Residents of Mororo, Bakuyu and Ziwani in Tana River county were also displaced with some being forced to seek refuge in schools in neighboring Garissa town.
Speaking to the press Garissa Governor Nathif Jama took a swipe at the National Government, over what he termed as negligence.
He said there has been no lasting solution over the continuous release of water from the mega dams.
“This water can be diverted with the creation of more other dams where they can release to without haphazardly letting it come to destroy peoples lives and livelihood,” Jama lamented.
He called for an urgent solution to the endless floods.