Death toll in flooded Kenya climbs above 180

More than 180 people have been killed and thousands of others displaced amid heavy flooding and landslide disasters across Kenya since March, the East African nation’s government and the Red Cross reported on Wednesday.

Kenya Red Cross South Rift Regional Manager Felix Maiyo said two bodies were recovered from the debris on Wednesday in the town of Mai Mahiu, where at least 48 people were killed following a dam breach on Monday, according to Reuters.

In a statement posted earlier on X (formerly Twitter), government spokesman Isaac Maigua Mwaura announced that the death toll had risen to 179, including 15 children, following the “unfortunate loss of 10 lives within the past 24 hours.”

“Additionally, 20 more people have been reported as missing, putting the national tally of those reported as missing at 90. Another 125 Kenyans have been injured and are receiving treatment,” Mwaura stated.

The Kenyan Red Cross said it has evacuated over 90 people, including tourists trapped by floodwaters in over 14 tourist camps in Talek, Narok, after the Talek River broke its banks.

The humanitarian organization posted a video of its team in the northeastern county of Garissa, rescuing a man atop a tree who they claim had been marooned by floodwaters on a farm for five days.

East Africa has been plagued by nearly constant downpours in recent weeks as the El Nino phenomenon has exacerbated seasonal rainfalls, leaving dozens dead in Tanzania and neighboring Burundi. El Nino is a naturally occurring phenomenon that creates a domino-like weather effect in various parts of the world. In East Africa, it is normally associated with elevated levels of rainfall.

On Wednesday, the Kenyan government warned Kenyans to heed weather and flood alerts because “ongoing rainfall will continue to cause flooding and disruption of several social and economic activities.”