Kenya’s Worsening Flood Crisis: 91 Missing, Over 200,000 Displaced After Heavy Rainfall and El Niño Effects

The Kenyan government has confirmed that at least 91 people are currently missing following heavy flooding in the capital city of Nairobi and other parts of the country over recent weeks. The majority of those reported as missing, around 76 individuals, were affected by floodwaters near Mai Mahiu, a town located northwest of Nairobi. According to locals and first responders, this disaster was caused when water surged through an obstructed tunnel beneath a railway bridge. So far, the incident has claimed the lives of at least 71 people in that area alone.
A further ten individuals are missing in Kenya’s eastern region, four more have gone unaccounted for within Nairobi County and one person is still reported as being lost in the coastal region bordering the Indian Ocean, said Isaac Mwaura, a spokesperson from the Kenyan government. Heavy rains which started around mid-March intensified last week resulting in widespread flooding that has left 190,942 people displaced throughout Kenya; over 5,000 more than had been recorded as having been affected by floods on Monday alone.
The Kenyan capital city of Nairobi is currently the worst-affected area with approximately 147,000 individuals forced to flee their homes due to flooding in recent days; this figure equates to around three quarters (77%) of all those who have been displaced by floods across Kenya. The Kenyan government has established a total of fifty-two temporary accommodation centres for the affected population, two more than were previously reported on Monday.
The country’s meteorological department is forecasting that rainfall will continue in several parts of the nation until May 6th; this could potentially exacerbate existing flood conditions further still. The Kenyan government has pledged to provide food and non-food items while simultaneously executing search, rescue, evacuation processes within areas experiencing serious flooding scenarios currently impacting multiple locations throughout Kenya, added Mwaura during his press release update earlier today (Tuesday).
Jagan Chapagain, the Secretary General of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), warned that “Kenya is facing a worsening flood crisis due to combined effects of El Niño [and] long rains”, explaining that these phenomena have triggered catastrophic flooding since November 2023. He went on further in his statement: “The heavy rainfall has caused more than one hundred deaths and widespread damage.”
This region, often classified as one the world’s most climate-vulnerable locations with previous reports highlighting that it is frequently affected by severe weather conditions, also includes Tanzania and Burundi. In recent years Kenya has suffered from extended periods of catastrophic drought; heavy rainfall on hard soil after prolonged dry spells can increase the risk of flooding in certain areas due to an increased volume of water running off during intense downpours as opposed to being absorbed into parched ground, potentially leading to more severe flood conditions.
The April World Weather Attribution analysis found that Kenya’s most recent rainfall was made one hundred times worse by the impact of climate change brought about via increasing amounts of planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions derived from fossil fuel burning – an outcome which further heightened its destructive potential.