Rains in Nairobi have always exposed the ugly side of the city's drainage system.
The drainage systems within Nairobi are filled with illegally dumped garbage and stagnant water even without rain.
Whenever rains pour, residents wade, slog, hop, skip and jump to cross flooded streets while flash floods and stagnant water have been a common sight.
The rains expose the old, damaged, clogged and overflowing drainage system built for a much smaller population about 100 years ago.
Roads turn into rivers where boats would help with the crossing.
To address this issue, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has unveiled a plan in preparation for the El Nino.
Nairobi has already hired 3,500 environment officers to help spruce the city with Sakaja saying another 1,000 are set to be hired.
However, more than 60,000 applicants had applied for the few slots.
“The first and most important measure is the cleaning and draining of our drainages to avoid flooding. The recruitment of 3,500 environmental officers to clean and unclog the drainages goes a long way to ensure our preparedness for the El Nino rains,” Sakaja said while unveiling the El Nino plan
The youths have already been provided with tools to do their work.
Another measure that City Hall is taking is setting up an emergency number for residents to report El Nino emergencies.
The number, however, will be announced later.
At the same time, 1,200 wheelbarrows, six fire engines, five flushing units, five ambulances, eight excavators, four exhausters and 60 trucks ( 27 new and 23 old) were flagged off for the purpose of preparedness.
Sakaja also announced that there will be a mapping exercise to map out unsafe buildings.
As a result, some residents will be evacuated before the flooding begins.
“We will identify buildings that pose a flooding threat and we will act accordingly, without fear or favour,” he added.
