Kenya Flood Report

It's very sad, a lot of devastation.

Is anyone travelling around these routes any time soon? Apparently the bridge at Archers Post is gone. It seems to have affected a lot of the West, from North to South.

We're going from Moyale to Isiolo in just over a month. It seems this might become impossible. Does anybody know of alternate routes?

Does anyone have any more information about these events?

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Hi there,

We are on the same route,but that will be at around end June,beginning July and I'm afraid I can post any fresh info about it right now.
I'll keep in touch and if you can post something once you passed through would be great.


Thanks,

Regards,

Simon

An alternative route if the bridge at Archer's hasn't been repaired yet is to head west, 22km north of Archer's to Wamba and either do the long route around via Rumuruti, or about 30 km west of Wamba, double back on the dirt roads to just south of Isiolo, or head to Nairobi via Timau, Nanyuki, Naro Moru etc (which is a beautiful route).

I see that Migori is badly affected, which means that the western route into the Mara from the Serengeti is likely to be impassable for a while.

Here's the latest from the Nation (Sorry about the formatting - it has a mind of its own):

Nairobi — Three more people have died as a result of floods in parts of Kenya, according to the latest statistics from the Kenya Red Cross and government officials.
Kenya Red Cross communications director Titus Mung'ou on Saturday told the Nation a woman died in Marsabit North after being swept away by floods.
A man and his daughter were swept away as they tried to cross Isinya River in Kajiado North district on Thursday.
Area district commissioner Mr Mwangi Kahiro said the man had attempted to carry his daughter across the swollen river but succumbed to the raging waters. The bodies were swept 10 kilometres downstream, he said.
This brings the number of the dead from the floods to nine.
And the Red Cross is also warning that the situation in the Tana Delta could become critical if the rains are to continue and the dams on the Seven Forks Hydroelectric project get full.
"The water could be released downstream and the people on the Tana Delta will therefore need to be on the lookout if the rains continue," said Mr Mung'ou on the telephone.
He said reports from the Lake Victoria and Budalangi flood monitoring systems indicate rivers in that area are close to overflowing their banks. He said the rivers are about 0.2 metres away from breaking their banks and residents would have to move to higher ground immediately.


Water from the Cherangany Hills and Mt Elgon are the main cause of the river's perennial flooding.
The number of those who have been left homeless also increased after about 70 families lost their semi-permanent houses to floods in Migori and Uriri districts in South Nyanza.
The residents of Oruba, Pand Pieri, Nyasare and Rapogi estates were left without shelter after their mud-walled houses were brought down by the heavy rains that have pounded the region for the last three days.
He urged area residents to avoid any swollen rivers.
Residents of Mandera also require assistance as the town's entire water system had been destroyed by the floods after River Dauwa in Ethiopia broke its banks.
Mr Mung'ou said toilets had collapsed in the area. Red Cross would from Saturday begin sing a helicopter to reach the distressed in those areas, he said.
In Garbatulla, five people who had been missing by the end of the day on Friday were found perched on trees on Saturday. More than 200 livestock have died in the area from the flooding. But the situation is yet to reach the alarming levels, said Mr Mung'ou as the figures of those affected remain below 2,000.
Families that had been displaced by the floods in January are however yet to go back to their homes and are still living in camps, he said, meaning more rains in the area would make it worse for them.
In Migori, the flood victims who escaped unhurt sought refuge in the homes of relatives and friends as they made plans to rebuild their structures.
The region also experienced flash floods on some roads and estates.
Murram roads leading to the Lake Victoria beaches of Muhuru were flooded, paralysing transport for hours to the chagrin of stranded commuters and fish mongers.


Water levels in Rivers Kuja and Migori that had dropped drastically shot up immediately following the heavy downpour.
The government has issued flood alerts in parts of Coast, Eastern, Western, Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces and sent disaster preparedness teams to parts of the North Rift that are thought to be susceptible to landslides.
On Thursday, Kenya Army and Kenya Police helicopters, together with those from Lewa Conservancy, were deployed to help evacuate people stranded in tourist lodges in the Samburu area due to flooding.

Great update Tony. When we go through in a month, we'll be sure to give a sit rep.

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http://www.WhyNotTour.com

We drove through with no problems. You could see where the water had risen to at Archers Post, and teh bridge that was damaged. But the other bridge there is fine.

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http://www.WhyNotTour.com