- Area chiefs confirm 9,428 people have been displaced as traders and fishermen count losses.
- The lake's water level has surged to unprecedented levels from 500 metres to 800 metres, claiming the properties of fishers and traders.
Image: HESBORN ETYANG
Fisherfolk have been forced to stay away from Lake Turkana due to the rising water level that has also resulted in flooding.
This has adversely affecting their livelihoods.
The water level has surged to an unprecedented level of 800 metres from 500 metres. Former beaches, hotels, homes and government offices are under water and thousands of people have been displaced.
Residents are now exposed to attacks from crocodiles and hippos.
Fishermen say they cannot risk their lives. The risk from the rising lake water levels has been there since March.
“We have never experienced this catastrophe before. The water in the lake was decreasing but it is now the opposite. It has claimed homesteads, fishing nets, boats and disrupted our source of livelihoods,” Kalokol fisherman Peter Eregae said.
Eregae said the Covid-19 outbreak has led to loss of business. They cannot get fish orders and even if they did, they cannot venture into the lake due to floods.
“The lake has flooded with reeds and mathenge trees all over; we can’t set fishing nets to trap fish. We also fear hippo and crocodiles attacks. Recently, we have witnessed crocodiles killing fishermen in the lake,” he said.
Esther Akiru, another Kalokol resident, used to do menial jobs at the lakeside. She can no longer fend for her family.
“We depend on fishing for our livelihoods and with these floods, I cannot provide food for my six children because fishermen cannot get to the lake to catch fish,” she said.
Her grass-thatch lakeside house was swept away alongside all her belongings. She has nowhere to go with her children.
Akiru has appealed for help from the county and national governments as well as from humanitarian agencies. She needs food, shelter, tents, mosquito nets, fishing nets, boats, clothes and clean water.
Other lakes in Rift Valley experiencing high water levels are Baringo, Bogoria and Nakuru.
Peter Ekai, a resident of Kalokol and a fisherman, said if the relevant authorities will not come to their rescue, there are high chances of an outbreak of waterborne diseases.
Ekai says for a long period, the regions around the lake have been hard hit by diseases such cholera.
He blames heavy rains in Ethiopia for rise of Lake Turkana waters.
Chiefs said 9,428 people have been displaced. They include 4,000 people in Kalokol, 2,500 in Kangatotha and 2,928 in Kerio.
Governor Josphat Nanok has warned people living and trading along the lake shores to move to avoid losing theit lives and property.
“It is evident that people have lost jobs as fishing activities have been interrupted and some hotels have been submerged.
"As a result, the fishing folk as well as residents have lost businesses. The effect has already been felt in Turkana North and Turkana Central subcounties,” he said.