Muthee Maina's family was lucky to survive the massive flood that swept away homes in Mathare where he lives, but the eviction bulldozers have not spared him, flattening all he had.
The man lived a few meters from the bank of Mathare River that spilled over days ago, sweeping properties downstream and killing 15 people over night.
The 43-year-old Maina and his three children aged 10 to 16, as well as his wife, survived the floodwater as their rented house was built of blocks unlike the shanties of the majority of his neighbours.
The floods had swept whole families to their death, including veteran activist Mama Victor, who drowned alongside her two grandchildren.
But just as he was trying to come to terms with the trauma of missing death by the skin of his teeth, bulldozers descended on the neighbourhood, flattening structures in a forced eviction initiative the state has billed as aimed at saving lives.
President William Ruto ordered residents in fragile ecosystems and riparian zones to move away to higher grounds in light of the risk of mudslides and flooding as the rains have continued to be heavy and destructive.
Being poor and his business premise having been washed away by the rains, Maina says he did not move out of the house because he had no money to get alternative accommodation quickly.
And as he pondered a safe and convenient way out of the area, the government order came into effect and his house was pulled down.
He saved nothing from it, including his basic belongings like clothes, bedding and household items.
Even worse, he had three months rent arrears and thus he could not move out quickly before settling matters with the landlord.
“Now, I only have my three children and wife, and nothing else,” he said, fighting back tears.
He is tempted to wish his family was swept away by the floods to their death, rather than having to contend with the cold and rains without a place to lay his head and the family looking up to him to provide.
“I have understood why people commit suicide,” he muttered.
“Now, I have these children and family yet we have lost everything to demolition. They did not give us a notice and allow us to salvage our household items. How do I now go and squat in an IDP camp. It's just sad.”
But in the dark cloud, the silver lining he sees is surviving to fight another day, given that he did not lose a life from his household.
“Amidst all my pain, I’m at least not bereaved. I have not lost my family members to the floods even though that Monday night we came close,” he said.
Maina and his family now shelter at a nearby church alongside tens of other families displaced by water and demolitions.
Human rights groups have complained that despite the promise by the government to carry out the evictions in a humane manner and to protect the victims from the vagaries of nature, they have been dangerously done with three lives lost so far.
On Monday, residents of the Mukuru and Mathare slums were forced to demonstrate and chase away a team of government officials demolishing houses in riparian areas in Mukuru slums.
This was after it emerged the eviction team may have killed at least two children in the area in the process of their actions, angering locals who grouped and chased the team from the scene.
Among the dead was a five-year-old boy who was crushed by rubble after a structure fell on him in the area.
Another body was discovered hours later on Sunday.
Separately, a 17-year-old boy was killed by another eviction team in Mathare slums on Monday.
This sparked protests in the area hours after President William Ruto had left on Monday evening.
The President had visited to assess the floods.
The team evicting families from the affected areas later embarked on the mission before the body of the teenager was discovered, sparking the protests.
Police used tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters before they picked up the body of the boy and took it to the mortuary.
The team was accompanied by police officers who tried to stop the chaos in vain.
The officers shot in the air and used tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters.
The angry protesters pelted the team with stones and twigs, forcing them to retreat.
One excavator was damaged in the chaos. It was later carried on a lorry from the scene.
This forced the team to stop their operation.