NAIROBI (Reuters) – Floods and landslides across Kenya have killed 179 people since March, with hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes, the government said on Wednesday, as dozens more were killed in neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi.
Torrential rain and floods have destroyed homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure across the region. The death toll in Kenya exceeds that from flooding triggered by the El Nino weather phenomenon late last year.
Last year’s rains followed the worst drought in large parts of East Africa in decades.
In Kitengela, 33 km (20 miles) from Nairobi, Kenya Red Cross workers were helping to rescue residents whose homes were marooned by flood waters.
They were also trying to rescue tourists trapped at camps in Narok, 215 km from Nairobi, the Kenya Red Cross said on X.
Nairobi’s highways authority said it had closed a section of a highway leading to the city and at least three other roads across the country due to flooding and debris.
The disaster prompted Pope Francis to speak out in sympathy with Kenyans during a general audience on Wednesday at the Vatican.
“I … wish to express to the people of Kenya my spiritual closeness at this time as severe flooding has tragically taken the lives of many of our brothers and sisters, injured others and caused widespread destruction,” he said.
(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Additional reporting by Keith Weir in London; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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