dateWed, Aug 24, 2011 at 5:01 AM
By Dickens Wasonga
The heavy rains that has been pounding most parts of Kisumu and Nyando of Nyanza for the last one week continue to wreck havoc in the area.
Several families within the flood prone Nyando plains are now considering moving to higher grounds as the raging floods sweeps across the area known for rice growing.
There is now fresh fears amongst affected residents of a possible cholera out brake and reemergence of malaria attacks.
However the government said it has put its health personnel in the region on high alert giving an assurance at the same time to the locals that there was enough drugs to handle any disease out-brake should the rains continue like has been predicted by the meteorological department.
On Monday last week Kisumu East district Commissioner Mabeya Mogaka and the MP for Kisumu town East Shakill Shabir toured the affected areas to assess the extent of the destruction which resulted from the floods.
Speaking to the Truth in his office last week , the DC confirmed that the worst hit areas included Kolwa East and Nanga where 8 houses were destroyed and over a 100 homesteads remained submerged in the waters.
Mogaka said the government lost money running into millions of shillings after 60 fish ponds were swept away by the raging floods.
The fish ponds were for the fish farming projects being implemented by various groups and individual fish farmers under the economic stimulus package within the Kisumu east constituency.
” All that money has now gone to waste.This area had the highest concentration of the ponds with each of them having 1000 fingerlings which has gone with the water in to the lake.”said the DC.
He spoke as red cross teams from Kisumu regional office gave out non food items such as canvas and blankets to 50 families in the affected areas.
Mogaka said the district disaster committee in its rapid assessment established that the area requires 10,000 gunny bags to protect the rivers that flooded.
” We have asked Kisumu town east emergency fund to give us Sh.2M to help drain river Awuji and Nyamsaria which are silted so that water can begin to flow easily again to the lake.” he said.
The DC said the situation was still manageable but it could reach crisis levels if the rains persists.
He however assured the residents that members of the district disaster committee were ready for any eventuality adding that the food situation was not yet out of hand.
In areas such as Korowe, Ayweyo RC, and Dunga, families were desperately making efforts to move to safer grounds.
In the past, flood victims usually turn to higher grounds in places such as schools and churches in a bid to escape the raging floods which has become a yearly calamity event during any rainy season.
Most of the affected families in the County of Kisumu and Nyando also had their properties worth millions of shillings destroyed in the wake of the heavy downpour which is pounding also most parts of the country.
In these areas, crops and animals were not spared either as Rivers Nyando, Nyamasaria and Awuji burst their banks.
In Kisumu’s Nyamasaria area ,heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorm led to flooding at Orongo and the famous Nyamasaria shopping center making the areas a no go zone for several hours on Saturday last week..
It was apathetic site at the ultra modern Nakumatt Mega City shopping complex which was flooded after the rains thereby disrupting business for several hours the same week.
It was a hectic time for motorists plying the Kisumu – Nairobi highway as their negotiated their way through the flooded section of the road in and out of the lake side city.
Several passengers remained stranded in Kisumu town while others could be spotted wading through the flood waters.
There was a traffic snarl-up,the first of its kind witnessed in the area where traffic jam is not common from Ahero to Kisumu and from Kisumu to Ahero delaying operations in the busy highway.
Most vehicles could not pass the Nyamasaria bridge that was overflowing with water and other debris picked upstream.
The havoc saw the Nyanza Golf club’s wall collapsing among other numerous structures in slum areas of Kisumu.
Two cyclists were also reportedly swept away by the raging floods near Awuji- Nyamasaria area.
According to eye witnesses, the cyclists did not have passengers at the time of the accident.
Search for the bodies was reportedly still underway according to our sources.
A farmer in Nyando said he lost several goats, Sheep and chicken as a result.
His entire horticulture garden was washed away by the raging floods that caught the resident’s unaware thus creating panic in the area.
ENDS.