Return home as flood waters have subsided, Garissa IDPs told

Most of the IDP camps are in public primary schools where flood victims have been staying over the last three weeks.

Speaking during Jamhuri Day celebrations held at Garissa Primary School grounds, the county commissioner thanked the County and National government officials, and development partners for the efforts made to save lives during the flooding period.

More than 30,000 households in the county were affected, especially those near the River Tana, which broke its banks wreaking havoc to communities and leaving a trail of destruction in the nearby centres and farms.

“In the next two or three weeks, schools will be opening and people should be preparing to go back to their homes because water has subsided. We will walk with them and help them with either mattresses, mosquito nets or other basic commodities so that they go back to their homes,” Chesut said.

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama thanked the World Food Programme for availing choppers to help in relief food distribution to flood victims in the interior parts of the county where roads are impassable.

Jama said his government is using the choppers to deliver drugs and medical equipment to subcounty hospitals in Garissa, and make sure people have access to medical services, especially where there could be water borne diseases.

At the same time, the governor called out some local MPs who have been questioning the running of his government saying they cannot show what they have done with their CDF money, thus lack the moral authority to question him.

Government Spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the death toll from El Nino is now at 168. 

Mwaura said rains are expected to persist in southern parts of the country in the Lake Victoria Basin, Central Highlands, South Eastern Rift Valley the Coastal strip and Western Kenya between December nine and 15.

As of Friday, Mwaura said, 545,515 people from 109,033 households had been displaced by floods although the emergency response team is capitalising on the dry conditions in Northeastern to distribute relief items to Wajir and Mandera counties.

He said efforts have also been made to repair damaged roads in Northern Kenya through collaboration between the Ministry of Roads and Transport and Kenya Highways Authority.

"Notably the Mogodashe-Habaswein road where a convoy of trucks had been stuck has now been fully restored," Mwaura said, adding that the Isiolo-Garbatulla-Mogodashe-Wajir and Hola-Garsen roads are also now passable.

Mwaura added that the Kenya Coast Guards and the Kenya Navy are meanwhile facilitating the evacuation of people in areas that are still submerged in water along Lamu-Witu road around Gamba in the Lango la Simba area.

Mwaura said the cholera outbreak reported in Lamu county where 115 cases and three fatalities had been reported, has now been contained.

"Of the 115 cases, only two remain active with the rest either recovered or tested negative," he said.

He said water and sanitation supplies have been bolstered in the county where KDF have provided water bowsers to supply water to residents in Lamu.