Two elderly men last night drowned in Garissa and Hulugho towns following a heavy downpour that lasted for over six hours which left behind a trail of destruction.
Confirming the two incidents, Garissa acting County Commissioner Solomon Chesut said that the two were trying to cross flooded roads when they were swept away.
Addressing the press in his office today, Chesut said the two bodies were recovered this morning and the police have taken over the cases.
The relentless downpour that started at around 7 pm in the evening went on past midnight destroying homes, and shops on the roadsides and collapsing pit latrines on the outskirts of Garissa town and neighbouring Madogo and Mororo in Tana River County.
He called on members of the public to stop making attempts to cross flooded roads, rivers, and valleys saying that the enhanced El-Nino rain is posing a huge danger to human lives in flood-prone areas.
“I want to appeal to members of the public to move away from flood-prone areas. The enhanced El Nino rains has devastated homes, roads, road networks, and other infrastructure,” Chesut said.
“Our people should stop sheltering under trees when it’s raining. The trees can fall on them or even be struck by lightning. Let us take all the necessary precautions because the rains will continue for some time,” he added.
He said the main roads of Modiga – Modogashe, and Garissa – Dadaab have been completely cut off and motorists plying these routes should avoid them for now.
Chesut appealed to donor agencies and other partners to assist in airlifting food and non-food items to areas that have been cut off due to the ongoing rains.
He singled out Hulugho sub-county as one of the hardest hit adding Hulugho town ‘is almost completely submerged by floods’.
The administrator said the government will continue distributing relief food to those who have been displaced by floods and are taking shelter at various camps.
On the tragic helicopter accident that took place in Masalani sub-county this morning, Chesut termed it ‘quite unfortunate’ noting that the helicopter pilots have done an excellent job in delivering national examination papers to areas that have been cut off due to the ongoing rains.
Chesut called on officers manning the examination and the general public where helicopters are involved to be extra careful and keep away from the choppers.
“Sometimes you see members of the public getting excited and milling around the helicopters. Let us keep off from these machines because they are very powerful and dangerous,” he said.
The county commissioner confirmed that Ahmed Nur Ismael, who was the deputy head teacher Masalani primary school and was deployed as the sub-county examination officer attached to the KNEC container located at DCC office Ijara was hit on the head by the helicopter tail rotter while taking off, killing him instantly.
He said the pilot was dropping examination materials from Ijara secondary to the DCC container at Masalani when the tragic accident happened.
He said police removed the body from the scene after processing the scene.
By Jacob Songok
