Heavy rains pounding many parts of Murang’a County have left scores of residents counting losses after their farms and houses were destroyed by landslides.
In Gatanga Sub County, eight families were affected after their tea farms and houses were destroyed by landslides that struck the area on Thursday midnight.
A two-acre tea farm at Kagarii village belonging to James Mbugua was swept away by a landslide leaving behind a huge gully.
The County has been receiving heavy rains since Monday and destruction of roads, houses and farms has been witnessed in various parts.
Farmers living in lower parts of the county were left counting losses after their crops were swept away by raging floods after rivers Mathioya and Maragua broke their banks.
Gatanga Deputy County Commissioner Mr. David Rotich said that disaster management team managed to evacuate affected families noting that although there was destruction of houses and farms, no causalities were reported.
Rotich said the affected families were integrated with people living in safe grounds as plans are being made to offer them temporary shelter.
In other areas, several roads in Mathioya Sub County were blocked by mudslide forcing motorists to look for alternative routes.
Mathioya Deputy County Commissioner Kipchumba Rutto said transport activities along St. Mary Gitugi road have been closed at Runyeki area following effects of mudslide.
“Contractors have been mobilized by Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) to clear the roads to allow transport activities to resume,” said Rutto.
Muthangari- Gacharage-ini road has been closed after landslide occurred in Mioro area.
Elsewhere, several homesteads at Matithi and Mirira areas of Kiharu were marooned by floods forcing residents to seek refuge on safer ground.
According to the county director of meteorology, Mr. Paul Murage, many parts of Murang’a County have recorded more than 100 percent increase in rainfall.
He said the county will continue receiving more rains till end of May cautioning local residents to be careful especially those living in landslide-prone areas.
“Soils are fully saturated and any more water may trigger landslides. Some areas in Mathioya have visible earth cracks which are increasing in size as rains continue pounding the area. Our appeal is for residents to be on the lookout and shift to safer areas so as to avert loss of lives,” added Murage.
By Bernard Munyao
