Floods hit parched Kenya
2006-04-18 20:07
Nairobi - Floods in coastal Kenya have forced thousands of people from their homes.
On Tuesday, Kenyan officials said heavy downpours caused a river to burst its banks in the drought-hit region.
About 10 000 people in the Malindi district on the Indian Ocean coast were affected by the flooding of the Sabaki River.
Kenyan district commissioner Jan Ireri said: "In general, flooding of this river has affected an estimated 10 000 people but of those, around 3 000 people have been completely displaced and have left their houses to go to relatives or move to higher ground.
"As a result of this, people cannot farm and animals cannot graze, because water has covered all the low-lying fields."
Ireri said villagers along a 90km stretch of the river were most affected by the flood, which was caused by intense rains upstream in central and eastern Kenya.
Floods in north Kenya
He said the worst-affected region was Bate, about 70km from Malindi, where the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) and government have begun distribution of food and other humanitarian relief.
Ireri said: "We have already got some food, but it is not enough.
"We are appealing for more intervention from humanitarian workers in the coming days."
Malindi is one of several areas along Kenya's coastal belt badly stricken by a severe drought that has gripped east Africa, and left 3.5 million Kenyans on the brink of starvation.
Flooding has also been reported in northern Kenya, the epicentre of the drought that has ravaged five East African countries and put 15 million people at risk, eight million of whom need emergency supplies.