‘World coming to an end’: Garissa town copes with life underwater
Seated by himself, Abdi Hussein stared out into a sea of rust-coloured floodwater on a Kenyan road scattered with dilapidated tents secured with plastic threads and covered in tarpaulins.
The 32-year-old was devastated and wondered what was left of his life after the flood destroyed his home, his career, and his wife.
With his forehead resting on his palm, he told AFP, “It has been like the world is coming to an end.”
“The water kept rising and rising and it swallowed everything.”
Although rain-related calamities are nothing new in Garissa, eastern Kenya, the town’s residents told AFP that the current monsoon has brought with it catastrophic levels of flooding that have stunned them.
Following weeks of intense rains that experts have attributed to the El Nino weather phenomena, Kenya is currently dealing with floods that have killed 257 people around the East African country.
Due to the rains, which submerged entire villages, blocked highways, and impeded the delivery of necessities, about 55,000 households have been forced to relocate.
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Five dams were submerged by the downpour, causing catastrophic flood overflows that cut across Lamu, Tana River, and Garissa, an area that is home to more than 1.5 million people.
The flood that destroyed Mwanajuma Raha’s house and took away all of her belongings also claimed her life. “We haven’t seen much rain ourselves but our biggest undoing is living downstream,” she said.
Unceasing
Floods have forced 27-year-old Suleiman Vuya Abdulahi to flee his home seven times, including when he was a baby.
However, nothing had equipped the mild-mannered farmer with weary brown eyes for the catastrophe of this year.
He was left stranded and unable to swim, so he watched the rains engulf the area and waited for aid for days on a rooftop that was just above the water.
After being uprooted for three months in November, he had hardly gotten his life back together when the monsoons compelled him to relocate once more.
He told AFP, “We, as regular citizens, are struggling.”
Some individuals have taken to living on rooftops and wading or swimming to neighbouring highways when they require food supplies, afraid to leave their homes for fear of seeing them robbed.
Due to the closure of the major route into Garissa, a vital business hub close to the Somalian border, all deliveries must now be made by boat or air, which has driven up prices.
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“This is something we have never seen in our area,” stated Boya Ali Karani, a 64-year-old village elder who is currently sleeping by the side of the road after his house was destroyed by flooding.
No food, no sleep
Motorboats, which once transported visitors across Lake Naivasha over 400 kilometres (250 miles) distant, are in high demand at the improvised dock outside of Garissa as they transport people and provide much-needed food.
However, the trip can be fatal; just last month, a crowded passenger boat capsized. Seven bodies have been found, one of them a schoolgirl. Twelve persons are still unaccounted for.
The 36-year-old boatman Mohamed Mansur Ali, who took part in the rescue effort, described his labour as “very difficult.”
“First, you don’t get any sleep and it is very tiring because you arrive at work at 6:00 am and finish work at 6:00 pm,” he stated to AFP.
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“You could be resting but then again get a call about a patient who needs to go to the hospital.”
Since the catastrophe, the government have implemented certain measures, such as having the navy stationed at the port to guarantee that all passengers are wearing life jackets and that the boats are not overloaded.
Given that the gigantic Masinga dam in central Kenya is already at “historic” highs, there are concerns that the situation could get worse as long as the rains continue.
The Kenya Red Cross’s regional coordinator, Daud Ahmed Shalle, stated that conditions in the 11 camps holding roughly
“We have a lot of people in the… camps whose basic need, or most pressing need right now, is lack of food,” he stated to AFP.
Protesters have demanded additional funding to address the situation, citing the fact that the towns most severely impacted are also the ones who contribute the least to catastrophic weather events.
“The effects of climate change on communities are permanent and will only get worse, which means that the need for humanitarian aid will always be increasing on a global scale,” stated Melaku Yirga, regional director for Mercy Corps, a US development organization, in East and Southern Africa.
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‘World coming to an end’: Garissa town copes with life underwater
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