Hundreds displaced as Eastern's Kariari 1 dam overflows

Hundreds of families in Dallas estate, Embu town, spent the night in the cold on Tuesday after their homes were flooded by spill-over water from Kariari 1 Dam.

Property worth millions of shillings was destroyed in the incident that saw some houses swept away.

Aisha Abdalla told The Standard that her mud-walled house collapsed at around 1am yesterday.

“I was woken up by water that was starting to fill our house and before long, the house sank. Luckily, we had already fled. All my property was destroyed. How will I start all over again?” she wondered.

Kirimari MCA Morris Nyaga asked the county government to pump the dam's water to the nearby River Rupingazi, saying the dam's presence was a safety and health risk for residents.

And in Karachuonyo constituency, Homa Bay County more than 1,000 families have been displaced by floods.

The Standard yesterday established that several houses in Konyango village, Komenya, Kawuor and parts of Chuoye beach were marooned in floods. Most of the affected families were evacuated by the Kenya Red Cross Society to Osodo Primary School.

Joe Kennedy, the disaster risk reduction chairman at the Osodo camp said families lacked basic commodities.

"We could not save anything but our lives," said Mr Kennedy.