Residents and businesses in Nairobi are counting losses after heavy rainfall on Friday, March 6, evening, which caused flooding in many parts of the capital.
Harrowing images and videos show vehicles nearly fully submerged in various parts of the capital, with some being washed away by the flash floods. Water entered some businesses and homes, with reports still emerging about the extent of the flood damage.
“Heavy rainfall has caused flooding in several parts of Nairobi and surrounding areas, leading to road closures, property damage, displacement and distress among affected communities,” the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement last evening.
Major roads affected in last night’s flooding include sections of CBD roads, Uhuru Highway, Mbagathi Way, Mombasa Road (South C–JKIA Exit-Kyumbi), Thika Superhighway (Githurai-Kahawa Sukari), Jogoo Road, Lunga Lunga Road, Enterprise Road and Lang’ata Road near T-Mall.
In a video that has since gone viral, motorists using a PSV bus were stranded on Uhuru Highway near the Haile Selassie Exit of the Nairobi Expressway, with the 33-seater bus nearly three-quarters submerged.
The passengers were captured holding hands to form a chain, in a bid to escape the submerged bus and onto higherground.
“As part of the flood response in Nairobi, Kenya Red Cross first responders rescued 20 people stranded along Kirinyaga Road and moved them to safety,” Kenya Red Cross said on Saturday morning.
For those who were lucky to be at home when the downpour began, they could not escape the floods which had hit several neighbourhoods in the capital. Roads in many estates were rendered impassable, with water rising to knee level in some places.
Some Nairobians were forced to find alternative accommodation as water swept through houses.
According to the Kenya Red Cross, some of the affected estates include Pipeline and Embakasi, where Kware Road was cut off, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Reuben and Viwandani, Kibra, Mathare, Huruma, and Baba Dogo.
Some of these areas were affected by the swollen Nairobi River, which caused residents to sleep in the cold.
Other areas that were hit by the floods are Bosnia, South B and South C, Nairobi West, Lang’ata, Umoja 3, Chokaa, Njiru, Ruai, Utawala, Roysambu, Kahawa West, Githurai, Loresho and parts of Westlands.
As the Nairobi rapid response teams struggled to deal with the flooding in various parts of the city, the Kenya Defence Forces sent in the military Rapid Response Unit to assist in clearing traffic that was blocked by stalled cars.
KDF conducted traffic control and facilitated the towing of five vehicles to clear the Kariokor-Ring Road roundabout and established traffic control at Mbagathi Roundabout, the military said in a statement.
Kenya Met has indicated heavy rainfall of up to 20mm between Wednesday and Monday next week, especially in Nairobi and other regions in the country, as the long rain season begins.