KISUMU, Kenya May 5 \u2013 Thousands of families were displaced Sunday after River Nyando burst its banks.<\/p>\n
The affected families were camping on the roadside with no place to go after markets, schools and a police station in Ahero were also submerged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means motorists cannot cross the main bridge on the Kisumu-Nairobi Highway causing a major transport crisis,\u201d said a senior police officer in Ahero.<\/p>\n
This means motorists cannot cross the main bridge on the Kisumu-Nairobi Highway causing a major transport crisis, police said.<\/p>\n
There were no immediate reports of casualties but locals and motorists were warned against attempting to cross the flooded bridge. <\/p>\n
Since March, flash floods have claimed nearly 200 lives and displaced more than 200,000 people across 30,000 households.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are urging motorists to be cautious and keep off that bridge because we already have vehicles in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kisumu Central MP, Joshua Oron, who visited the affected families, appealed to the government to urgently assist those affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here in solidarity with you. This is the first flooding we have ever seen in decades,\u201d he said, emphasizing the severity of the situation.<\/p>\n
Oron, a native of Nyando sub-county, described the devastation caused by the flooding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in coordination with other government agencies to bring emergency support to these families,\u201d he assured.<\/p>\n
While there were no immediate reports of casualties, locals were warned against attempting to cross the flooded bridge.<\/p>\n
Accompanying MP Oron were Ahero MCA and Majority Leader in the County Assembly, Ken Ooko, and Majority Whip, Seth Kanga.<\/p>\n
The River Nyando burst its banks on Saturday evening, carrying debris along with it. Even the police station was not spared, with police officers\u2019 residences submerged in water.<\/p>\n
John Auko, a 68-year-old resident, recounted evacuating his family to the roadside as floods invaded their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll my family members spent a night by the roadside, and we see no end to this flood soon,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n
Auko mentioned losing all his chickens but fortunately managing to save his cows.<\/p>\n
Along the Kisumu-Nairobi highway, submerged homes dotted the landscape, with mothers seeking shelter under umbrellas with their children.<\/p>\n
Mud houses collapsing were a common sight in the affected villages.<\/p>\n
The Kisumu county government has established a command center at Ahero County Hospital, with representation from the Coast Guard, KDF, Red Cross, and health teams.<\/p>\n
John Oywa, the county communications director, explained that the Coast Guard is leading rescue efforts with inflatable boats being deployed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have come with inflatable boats which are being deployed as we speak,\u201d he confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cKDF has made available air rescue should it be required,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, traffic police have managed to clear the traffic buildup resulting from the overflow of the River Nyando.<\/p>\n
The situation remains critical, with the community and government agencies working tirelessly to provide relief to the affected families and restore normalcy to the region.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KISUMU, Kenya May 5 \u2013 Thousands of families were displaced Sunday after River Nyando burst its banks. The affected families were camping on the roadside with no place to go after markets, schools and a police station in Ahero were also submerged. \u201cThis means motorists cannot cross the main bridge on the Kisumu-Nairobi Highway causing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}