Floods are the world's wake-up call to craft proactive responses

Marooned, Burgei Secondary School in Rongai, Nakuru County, on April 5, 2024, after the River Rongai breached its banks flooding into homes and schools due to heavy rains in the area. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Earlier in the year, a student from Siaya, in one of the science fairs that constituted their high school curriculum, hit the headlines with an invention that I considered novel. He assembled an electronic device that has the ability to detect and warn locals of possible floods.

The equipment's operationalisation would include being stationed at river banks for constant monitoring of the water levels.