The Kenya Red Cross is now calling for more concerted efforts from all stakeholders to address the effects of floods ravaging North Eastern as the number of those displaced continues to rise.
Talking to KNA on phone, the regional head for the Kenya Red Cross Mohamed Abdikadir said the numbers are rising with every passing day and could soon surpass 40,000 households as the rains continue to pound the country.
Mohamed said the biggest challenge facing the organization is getting both food and non-food items to victims who have been marooned and cannot be reached by road.
“These are families in urgent need of food, non-food items, shelter and drugs to prevent respiratory and water borne diseases. In most of these areas that have been submerged, sanitation issues will definitely be compromised,” he said.
The KRC regional head said Mandera County remains the worst hit with Elwak town and its environs completely submerged by flood waters.
In Wajir County, Buna, Diff and Dadajabula towns are also under water while in Garissa County Hulugho, Galmagalla, Gurufa, Modogashe have either been cut off or submerged.
“The biggest challenge we are faced with is getting these food and non-food items to the victims in Buna, Dadajabula, Diff and Elwak. What we have done so far is to do airdrops of these items,” Mohamed said.
“We are currently doing assessment for Dadajabula. For Buna we shall airlift the relief supplies from Moyale,” he added.
He thanked the Mandera county government for their support disclosing that they airlifted 9.8 metric tonnes of both food and non-food items to over 1,000 families in Elwak town. The airdrops also included water purifies.
Meanwhile, hundreds of families in Windsor, Bulla Sheikh, Bulla punda, Ziwani, Bakuyu in Garissa county and Mororo in Tana River county were forced out of their homes last night after river Tana broke its banks.
By this morning houses, shops, schools, churches and mosques in these settlements along the river Tana had completely been submerged as families tried to salvage their belongings.
A spot-check by KNA showed that families had started putting up temporary shelters by the roadside in anticipation of help from the county and national governments as well as other humanitarian agencies.
“As you can see the situation has forced us to camp by the roadside because we have nowhere to go to. Lucky for those who have sought shelter among relatives in neighbouring Madogo,” Said Kofa said.
“We have young families who cannot brace the cold weather at night. We are worried that water borne and respiratory diseases will soon break out if urgent assistance does not come our way,” he added.
On Wednesday, North Eastern Regional Commissioner John Otieno while touring the damaged Garissa-Modogashe Road cautioned members of the public and motorists against crossing flooded roads saying the 14 fatalities in the region due to floods were as a result of drowning.
By Jacob Songok
