The story in Turkana has changed from drought to flooding, at the onset of long rains which have delayed by over a month.
An example is a section of Kakuma-Lokichogio road that flooded early this morning following heavy downpour, paralysing transport for hours.
The last time the road was cut off was three years ago when heavy rains caused flooding after River Kawalase burst its banks.
No casualty was reported during the incidence.
This comes as Kenyans criticise the Kenya meteorological department for predicting that there would be no long rains in he country.
The weatherman however changed tune during the Easter holidays, forecasting heavy rainfall across the country throughout this week.
“Heavy rainfall of more than 30mm expected over Western Kenya, Lake Victoria Basin regions, Central Highlands including parts of Nairobi, Southern and Central Rift Valley regions on 22nd and 23rd April, 2019,” tweeted the department yesterday.
On the other hand, Kenyans have questioned government’s resilience during such events.
The government had promised that it would build 31 dams before the onset of the long rains, a promise it is yet to fulfill.
The announcement was made by Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri who also promised construction of 8,000 pans by the government in the long-term to handle any subsequent droughts.
Read: There Will Be No Long Rains This Season, Weatherman Warns
In March, the government said that it had released Ksh2 billion to facilitate drought mitigation measures.
Residents in more than 14 counties are facing starvation due to the prolonged drought across the country, which end during Easter holidays.
Close to one million people are said to be facing starvation across the country.
A report by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) blames the rising cases of food insecurity to below-average 2018 short rains, livestock diseases, invasions by pests and intercommunal fights in areas of northern Kenya where pastoral farming is practised.
“The below-average short rains have slightly increased the food insecure population from 655,800 in August 2018 to the current 1,111,500, with the top 12 counties having a total of 865,300 food-insecure people,” the report states.
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