All the National Irrigation Board premises in Mwea have been flooded following heavy rains in the area.
The rains which started pounding the area as early as 7pm Sunday continued throughout the night leading to the flooding.
Among the affected areas are the Board’s offices at Wanguru market and the official residences for the staffers.
Mwea irrigation scheme manager Innocent Ariemba said not even the executive guest center for the Board had been spared by the flooding.
Pics by Irungu Mwangi
“We are unable to even access our offices due to the flood waters which have turned the roads and parking bays into ponds”, he said.
Also affected are private homes and high end residential areas whose owners can neither get out or enter, depending on the situations they found themselves in
The area is low lying and ideal for irrigated rice farming hence the flooding.
Area MCA Gudson Muchina the other area hardly hit by the floods includes the Maisha Kamili area with residents forced to spend the night outside.
Muchina wants the governor Kirinyaga to use the funds from the emergency kit to open up drainage system and get the flooded water flowing.
Muchina said the canal under unit 20 broke banks leading to destruction of rice in the fields and incurring heavy losses in the process.
He said the water also affected Kiamanyeki area leaving a trail of destruction in the rice farms.
A farmer in the area Mwangi Njoga said he incurred a loss of more than half a million after the water washed his store where he had stored his paddy.
“I was not able to save even a single sack of my rice out of all the stock I had preserved” Mwangi said
The Scheme Manager Ariemba said he would provided a grader to see whether it could help in opening up the drainage system and minimize the risk of flooding in the area even as the rains continue pounding in the area.
By Irungu Mwangi
