171 KDF Personnel, 400 NYS Deployed to Help in Search and Rescue of Flood Victims as Death Toll Rises

More than 170 military personnel have been deployed to different parts of the country to help in a search and rescue mission of victims of flooding.

Of these, 151 were sent to Mai Mahiu and the rest to Garissa to search for bodies of those affected.

More than 400 National Youth Service personnel also joined the search in parts of Maasai Mara and Mai Mahiu, officials said.

The military arrived with excavators to dig through the debris that are believed to have buried dozens of people in the Mai Mahiu incident.

It will take days before they manage to clear the debris and recover any missing persons, they said. More than 200 people have been killed in the floods while many are missing.

The ministry of interior said Thursday emergency response teams from Narok County alongside the County Security team and Kenya Red Cross successfully evacuated 90 individuals in coordinated efforts by ground and aerial units in the Masai Mara where 19 lodges were flooded after River Talek overflowed.

Police said a total of 52 bodies had been recovered by Thursday morning from the Mai Mahiu flooding while 51 others are missing.

So far the Mai Mahiu-Narok road has been opened for traffic movement. According to the ministry of interior 90 people are currently missing out of the rains and a total of 33,100 households have been displaced affecting approximately 165,500 people.

Some 1,967 schools have been affected by the floods while landslides and mudslides continue to occur in Murang’a and Nakuru Counties.

This complicates planned reopening of the schools next week. The ministry said a nationwide assessment of all dams has been conducted and 192 dams identified to be high risk in Central (60), Eastern (39), Rift Valley (29), Coast (22), Western (21), Nairobi (12), North Eastern (5), and Nyanza (4).

“Inspection teams have been dispatched to ascertain the dams’ integrity,” said the ministry in a statement.

The meteorological department has warned of continued rains, which may result to more deaths.