Floods in Kenya kill 70 since March
A total of 70 people have died in Kenya since March in floods triggered by heavy rains, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said on Tuesday.
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"The official number of Kenyans who have unfortunately lost their lives due to floods now stands at 70," Mwaura wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), telling the France-Press news agency (AFP) that the figure had been recorded since March.
The capital and surrounding counties were hit by deadly flooding on Wednesday, which killed and displaced 13 people.
The meteorological department has warned that "heavy to very heavy rainfall" is expected across several parts of the country until May.
In Kenya, as in several countries in East Africa, the seasonal rains are this year combining with the El Niño climate phenomenon, which began in mid-2023 and could last until May, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on March 5.
As well as raising temperatures, El Niño triggers drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains in others.
In Tanzania, 155 people have died nationwide in heavy rains "linked to El Niño" that have caused flooding and landslides, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Thursday.
In Burundi, authorities have reported 96,000 people internally displaced by near-constant rainfall over several months.
In December, at least 89 people died in landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains in northern Tanzania.
Across the region, more than 300 people have died.
In Somalia, more than one million people have been displaced by flooding.
From October 1997 to January 1998, massive flooding fuelled by torrential rains brought by El Niño caused more than 6,000 deaths in five countries in the region.
Read Also: Torrential rains in the capital of Kenya kill ten (Portuguese version)
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