Mombasa in flood chaos as heavy rains lash coast

A bulldozer breaks a wall at Kiembeni in Mombasa. The wall has stopped floods from flowing causing damage to properties. It is demolished by Mombasa Municipal council. (PHOTO OMONDI ONYANGO/STANDARD)

Parts of Mombasa have been rendered inaccessible in the aftermath of unusually heavy rains witnessed in the coastal belt over the weekend.

Although the Mombasa County government and the provincial and administration officials are yet to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the destruction caused by the floods, at least one person was killed, several injured and scores rendered homeless by the rains.

The floods unleashed misery on residents of Mombasa where cases of landslides have been reported, while in the surrounding counties of Kwale, Kilifi and Taita Taveta, families spent the night in the cold after their houses were destroyed. A primary school wall also collapsed injuring three people.

Night-long rains, which triggered massive flooding and landslides, left a man dead, several missing and many others homeless in Mombasa.

The impact of the storm, which killed a seven-year-old girl in Kilifi on Friday, was also felt in Kwale and Taita Taveta counties. The girl, Jamila Kazungu, drowned in River Kivunga as she and her uncle tried to cross on Friday.

A man said to be visiting, was killed when mudslides hit a house and buried him alongside his two hosts in Kalahari slums in Changamwe. Residents said they were awoken by the loud thud of the mudslide crushing the house.

The body of the man was retrieved, nut the two residents of the house are still missing. The two men are suspected to be buried in the rubble of their slum house that was torn down by the landslide at 4.30a.m. yesterday.

The floods wrecked the city’s infrastructure, rendering some parts of the Coast inaccessible on the third day of torrential rains yesterday.

Homeless families

Three people were injured and hospitalised when a house in Buxton collapsed as they slept early yesterday.

Several roofs in Tezo, Kilifi County, were blown off on Saturday leaving families homeless.

Kwale, Kilifi, Taita Taveta and Mombasa counties have been pounded by oceanic and convectional rain since Thursday.

Mombasa County Health Executive Bint Omar told The Standard last evening that 28 families had lost their dwellings after their houses were flooded or collapsed.

She said six houses collapsed in Mburukenge and another six in Mishomoroni slums. She, however, did not have the statistics of families that have rendered homeless by the rains.

According to Kenya Red Cross Mombasa County Manager Soud Tengah, a wall also caved in at MM Shah Primary school and injured three people.

‘’One of the three (men) had a broken leg. They were given first aid before being taken to the Coast Provincial General Hospital for further treatment,’’ Tengah said yesterday.

‘’Our team is already on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the full impact of the flooding, considering that rains have been pounding Mombasa non-stop.

We are ready to respond to emergencies and have already adequate stocks for relief,’’ he added.

Villagers said hundreds of tenants had moved to temporary shelters, after heeding warnings that there was a danger of landslides.

A resident of Muungano Hakika estate in Magongo, Ms Tedi Jakenda, said she had not slept since her house was flooded on Saturday.

‘’Furniture was destroyed after the drainage system collapsed and water gushed in,’’ she said.

A breast-feeding mother of a five-month-old, Nuru Hussein, said she was looking for alternative housing after her rented room become waterlogged.

Water spread fast

‘’No space in my room has been spared including the bed where water spread fast last Saturday,’’ she said.

Tengah said the areas most ravaged by floods were Likoni near the police station, Mishomoroni, Bengale, Junda, Mafisini, Tudor, Mburukenge, Kalahari and Magongo in Changamwe.

In Kiembeni, Mombasa mainland North, residents were cut off from Mombasa’s central business district after an access road become impassable.

Residents are yet to come terms with the tragedy.

“I woke up in the morning to find one of my houses had collapsed. I have seen the body and I can confirm it is not my tenant,” said Kadzo Katana, who owned the house in Kalahari where the man was killed.

“It took hours of digging to retrieve the body. We’re worried that his two friends who spent the night in the slum are buried in the rubble. We hope the county government will send people to help us continue the search,” said Mwangi Maina, a resident of the slum.

The body was taken to Coast General Hospital mortuary.

Onesmus Musyoka, said one of the three casualties was a community policing officer who was injured when he responded to a distress call.

“He was hit by a stone when he rushed to the scene to respond to cries for help from the victims,” said Musyoka.

On Friday, County Lands Executive Committee Member Francis Thoya warned of more landslides in some areas and asked residents in low-lying areas to vacate.

“Most of these problems will be addressed once the implementation of a master plan is effected,” said Thoya when the county formed a disaster response committee.

He further warned that Jomvu, Miritini, Bangladesh and Kalahari slums and Mishomoroni were some of the areas where landslides were likely to occur.