Flash floods in Nairobi kill 23 as torrential rains devastate homes and roads, sparking rescue efforts and criticism of drainage failures
NAIROBI: At least 23 people were killed in flash flooding overnight in Nairobi, police said Saturday, amid search and rescue operations and widespread devastation.
Torrential rains lashed the Kenyan capital late Friday, turning major streets into rivers and flooding thousands of homes and businesses.
Rescue teams were still pulling out bodies and rescuing trapped residents on Saturday, while AFP reporters saw heavily damaged roads and infrastructure from the city’s vast slums to upmarket areas like Parklands.
“We are seeing devastation… A huge number of areas in the city were affected, but also counties all over the country,” Kenyan Red Cross spokesman Munir Ahmed told AFP.
Police said they had rescued at least 29 people overnight and “remain fully deployed, actively responding to distress calls and continuing with search and rescue missions”.
Multiple studies have tracked the increasing frequency of extreme wet and dry periods in East Africa in the last 20 years, including one on rainfall variability published by Scientific Reports in 2024.
AFP reported on emergency-level drought in northeastern Mandera county last month that had killed large numbers of livestock.
Neighbouring countries like Somalia and Ethiopia are also affected.
Following Friday’s rains, there was anger online at Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja, who had vowed to deal with drainage and road infrastructure when he took office in 2022.
“Sakaja should be in jail not in office,” said well-known activist Nelson Amenya on X.
“There’s no storm water drainage system… I haven’t seen any active flood management or even preparation for it by the county of Nairobi,” he said.
“Yesterday’s flood situation was an indictment,” added Nairobi opposition senator Edwin Sifuna on X. “We need a comprehensive review of how the city drains because the piecemeal interventions are not working.”
Kenya Airways said they had been forced to divert several flights away from Nairobi to Mombasa due to the rains.
The Kenyan Red Cross said hundreds of households in neighbouring counties had also been affected, and vast swathes of farmland destroyed.
“I would call for joint efforts between the government humanitarian agncies to deal with this problem, and to understand why we are having this havoc,” said Ahmed of the Red Cross.
