Heavy Rains Leave a Trail of Destruction in Nairobi
A car dealer is counting losses worth millions of shillings after trees fell on several vehicles at a car yard in Nairobi following heavy rainfall on Sunday.
At least 10 high-end vehicles were destroyed after trees fell on the car yard located along Ngong Rd in Nairobi.
The downpour, which is expected to continue across the country, left a trail of destruction in the city over the weekend.
Drivers were forced to use only one lane on sections of the busy Mombasa Road, with access to several buildings completely cut-off by the raging water.
Motorists blamed the situation on the ongoing construction of the Nairobi expressway, accusing contractors of spilling rainwater from their site onto the road. Others said poor drainage in the area was the cause of perennial flooding.
In Mukuru kwa Reuben, some families spent the night out in the cold after their houses were submerged.
Last week, the Meteorological Department said the long rains season is expected to reach its peak in April, with heavy rainfall being experienced across the country.
The weatherman warned that the enhanced rainfall may result in flooding in the flood-prone areas over the Lake Victoria Basin and the Highlands West of Rift Valley.
Comments (3)
Kizungu ngumu. How do you spill rain water on the road?
It is an unfortunate loss to the car dealer, but hopefully insurance will cover the tab. For the flooded roads, what can I say; we are always caught unprepared - even next year it will happen. For those who built rain capture infrastructure, this is awesome. Their storage tanks will be full.
You'd think that a local engineer or engineers can come up with storm water flood mitigation and storage dams as well as water treatment plants given that this problem is not new and and in a few months water will be in short supply. Our failure to plan, coupled with endemic corruption and endless tolerance for incompetence is our biggest downfall.