Over 400 people spent the night in the cold after floods swept their homes at Kakola Ombaka village in Nyando Sub-County.
Over 150 households were displaced in the area with more people likely to be affected due to the rising water levels in River Nyando.
Several houses have been swept away while others are marooned forcing the residents to seek shelter at Ombaka Secondary School.
The Kenya Red Cross team arrived in the area and helped to evacuate the affected families.
Caroline Achieng, one of the affected said she lost all her chicken and cattle after the floods struck in the dead of the night.
“I managed to get out of the house but could not salvage anything. I have lost all my chicken and cows. My crops have all been swept away by the floods,” she said.
At one of the homes, a family, which buried a loved one last weekend, is living in fear after the raging waters penetrated the grave.
“We have managed to reinforce it with stones but with the ongoing rains we fear it shall be swept away,” said Mercy Adhiambo.
Area Assistant Chief, Jacob Onudi, said all the affected families have been moved to safer grounds to avoid loss of lives.
However, the families he said have no food, beddings and proper sanitation with fear of water borne disease looming.
“Pit latrines have been swept and since we have a water problem in this area we fear an outbreak of water borne diseases,” he said.
Cases of malaria and water borne diseases, he added, have been reported and urged the county government to deploy adequate medical personnel and drugs to the camps to arrest the situation.
The Assistant Chief further urged well-wishers to support the affected families with beddings and food.
As a long-term measure, he asked the National Government to construct dykes on the banks of river Nyando to stop the floods, which have become an annual phenomenon in the area.
By Chris Mahandara
