Garissa residents told to move to higher grounds ahead of El Nino rains

Members of the public residing along the river in Garissa have been notified to move to higher grounds and adhere to flood alerts given through media channels and community forums ahead of expected El Nino rains.

Speaking to the press after chairing the County steering committee at the Garissa farmers' training centre, Garissa County Commissioner Solomon Chesut said the government is determined to avoid loss of lives, destruction of  properties and the spread of water-borne diseases.

“As you are all aware Garissa County is on a low lying, especially along the Tana River. Sometimes Tana River is a blessing to us but when the rains are above normal it becomes a disaster,” he said.

Chesut who was flanked by several stakeholders and partners among them NDMA and Kenya Red Cross said that the government has mobilized all the necessary resources required just to make sure that they respond in case of an emergency.

Mohamed Dubow, the County director in charge of special programs said that they were prepared in terms of logistics saying that they were at 60 per cent.

“We have done stoke taking in terms of what we have in terms of human resource, logistics, What we have in terms of all resources including monetary and budgeting for all the issues."

He however said there still existed some gaps in terms of scaling up surveillance, evacuations as well as creation of identification IDP sites.

Some of the hotspot areas that have been mapped out in the seven sub-counties include Ghurufa, Shanta Abaq and Baraki.

Others are Modogashe town, Janjuu, Jilango and Bulo Balamabla saka, Sankuri, Shabah and parts of ADC have been marked.

Others are Galbet, Iftin, waberi , Masalani, Gababa, kotile, Bothai, Sangai,Fafi, Galmagala, Degega ,Saretho, Dertu, Alikune and medina.

The government has already announced that residents of arid and semi-arid lands who were affected the most by drought, are likely to be hit hardest by the El Nino rains.

Garissa, Marsabit, Turkana, Baringo, Samburu, Wajir, Tana River, Kwale, Taita-Taveta, Mandera, Narok, and Isiolo Counties are likely to experience flooding, Elgeyo  Marakwet and West Pokot are at risk of landslide.