Villagers watch as landslide sweeps tea farm

Residents of Mairuri village watched in horror as a landslide swept through a tea plantation on Wednesday morning.

The landslide left behind a massive void on the farm, sweeping a huge portion of it into the nearby Rupingazi river.

Surprisingly, the landslide happened days after it stopped raining in the area. It has not rained for over a week now.

John Njeru, the farm owner, told The Standard that he lost tea bushes worth millions of shillings.

Mr Njeru said he was woken up by the screams of women harvesting tea on the farm.

When he rushed out, it was to find a section of his farm sliding slowly towards the river.

In its wake, the landslide destroyed other crops on Njeru's and neighbouring farms.

"The portion of land was pushed about 2km away and affected some of my other crops as well as my neighbours'," said Njeru.

Rumbling noise

Villagers recalled hearing a loud rumbling noise before watching in disbelief as a swathe of land started sliding downhill.

It left behind a deep gully whose bottom is now gushing with water.

Peter Gitonga, one of the neighbours, said he was going to harvest tea but was met by a portion of the tea plantation, complete with the trees on it, sliding downhill.

The unprecedented incident paralysed tea harvesting in the area as farmers vowed to stay away for fear that another landslide might occur.

Residents said they had never seen anything like that happen in the area.

The landslide also triggered another threat as mud collected and blocked part of the nearby river, which is now swelling rapidly.

Another landslide

Residents including schoolchildren have been crowding the area oblivious to the danger of another landslide occurring.

The residents, including Njeru, said they had no plans to leave the area as they had nowhere else to go.

National and county government officials are yet to respond to the incident.