Sakaja orders unclogging of sewers and drainages to avert floods

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has ordered drainages in the city to be unclogged to avert more deaths following a heavy downpour that claimed four lives on Sunday night.

The governor, in a statement, directed 170 Green Army workers to be deployed to unblock drainage in key hot spot areas. Green Army youth protect the environment and aid the county emergency response team in managing natural disasters. 

"I have directed Green Nairobi to form and deploy 170 Green Army personnel to unblock and unclog drainages in hot spot areas. They will also unclog sewers and clean drainage systems in affected areas,” Sakaja ordered.

Key equipment including backhoes, wheel loaders, flushing units and excavators will also be released to facilitate the Green Army in the exercise. 

Some of the areas mapped by Sakaja included Kangemi where approximately 20 households were affected in the Waruku area, Mukuru Kwa Reuben and Mukuru Kwa Njenga where close to 300 families were displaced. Kamukunji where about 8,200 people were affected, Viwandani where nearly 100 families in Kingston, and Kisii Village were victims of the floods, Kayole and Njiru were also listed as hot spot areas. 

Sakaja also ordered fresh water to be provided to the flood victims and directed public health officers and community health promoters to intensify ground support through the distribution of water treatment tablets and offer psychosocial support.

"Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company to mobilise its water bowsers and deploy them to the affected areas to provide residents with clean drinking water," said Sakaja.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan and other leaders during the commissioning of newly tarmacked roads in Eastleigh, Nairobi. (Amin Abdullahi).

The Nairobi Disaster Management Team was further ordered to collaborate with the National Police Service, National Disaster Operations Centre and the Red Cross to search and recover missing persons. 

Among the missing persons are a police officer and three other residents who were swept away by the floods.

The officer, attached to Kamukunji Police Station was responding to a distress call to rescue a family trapped in a flooded house.

"The family he was rescuing is safe but we are yet to recover his body, the search is still ongoing," an officer privy to the case told The Eastleigh Voice.

Nairobi area Police Commander Adamson Bungei further confirmed that the other victims including a bodaboda rider were swept by floods in Gigiri, Buruburu and Dagoretti areas.

The Heavy downpour also damaged roads in the city, disrupting traffic and human movement.  The roads include; Peponi, Ojijo,  Bunyala, Nairobi Expressway, Baricho and Jogoo Roads respectively.

Kamukunji Sub-County Commissioner James Kamau, whose officials were deployed to the ground since early morning to analyse the situation, stated that approximately 8,700 people in Kamukunji have been severely affected by the flash floods.

"While many parts of Kamukunji experienced flash floods, the most significant impacts were seen in informal settlement areas along the Nairobi River in Majengo and Kitui Village in Pumwani, Kinyago and Kanuku in California Ward, and Mugunda in Eastleigh South. Hundreds of individuals have lost everything they own and have been left homeless. These communities, already highly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters due to their precarious conditions, have been disproportionately affected," Kamau stated.