Residents of Melelo area in Narok South Sub County have been cut off after six of their bridges were swept away by flash floods following a heavy downpour being experienced in the area.
The six bridges that were built by the locals along River Enoosagamia connects the residents of Melelo to Enoosagamia village and were swept after a three day heavy downpour in the area.
The residents’ property worth millions of shillings was also swept away among them tens of cattle and sheep and food crops in the farms.
Kuseo Tialila, a resident of the area said the residents cannot move across the villages as they used to as the heavy down pour is still pounding the area.
“A number of cattle was carried away by the floods. Crops in the fields were also destroyed by the rain that has fallen heavily for three consecutive days,” said Mr. Tialila.
“These are the worst floods ever experienced in this area. The rains that begun in September last year have not stopped and we are now worried,” reiterated Mr. Francis Letui.
The Schoolgoing children in Melelo Primary, Olpukoti and Ole Nkanai primary schools have also been severely affected as most of them who live across the river cannot access school.
Caleb Kisua, a class eight pupil is worried as his colleagues from other schools are in class learning while he remains at home as it is not possible for him to cross the river.
The villagers asked their area Member of Parliament, Korei Ole Lemein to intervene to give them food and build permanent bridges in future as the ones carried away were wooden and had been built by the community.
In a recent interview with nominated Member of Parliament, representing persons living with disability, David Sankok, asked the government to prioritize constructing a mega dam in the area to tame the water that goes to waste.
“The Ministry of Water should consider building mega water pans and dams so that we can control this runoff water to help us in future. Sometimes this area is hit by drought leaving residents to search for water in very far areas,” said the nominated MP.
The Narok County allocated Sh. 1.04 Billion for disaster management in the current financial year which was the second largest share of the Sh. 12 Billion financial year budget.
By Ann Salaton
