Weatherman warns of heavy rains in Coast

The Meteorological Department has warned of major storms and heavy rains in five coastal counties.

According to the weatherman, the storms in Kilifi, Kwale, Mombasa, Lamu and Tana River should have begun yesterday through to tomorrow, saying the patterns have a 33 per cent probability of occurrence.

And yesterday, Kenya Red Cross Kilifi County Director Hassan Musa said the relief agency is ready for the rains. In May and June, heavy rains in Coast caused immense flooding and deaths.

Speaking in Malindi, Mr Musa said the relief body is on high alert and all volunteers are on standby.

“Our teams are on standby for any immediate deployment and we have made proper arrangements for relief material that we might be in need of including a mobile water purifying system with a capacity to purify 5,000 litres of water per hour,” Musa stated.

“We will be updating our Emergency Operating Centres on a six-hourly basis as from Saturday evening. We are asking people living close to the river banks to move upstream.”

At the same time, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) has said many parts of Kilifi are expecting to have a bumper harvest of food crops, noting that there is already an oversupply of milk due to availability of pasture and water.

reduced conflicts

Stephen Musimba of NDMA, Kilifi County added that conflicts between herders and farmers have reduced due to the favourable weather pattern.

Meanwhile, the body of a middle-aged man has been retrieved in Bombi area of Malindi Sub-County.

According to eyewitnesses, the man is suspected of having slipped into the deep water pan in Bombi while attempting to fetch water yesterday where he drowned.

Residents alerted the authorities last Friday when the bloated body of the yet-to-be-identified man surfaced.

The body has been taken to the Malindi Level Five Hospital morgue.