Deputy police spokesman Jesse Mituki confirmed the figures, saying a few other people had died in isolated flood-related incidents since the heavy rains started in late March.

"Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead after heavy rains pounded Kisumu, Budalangi, Rachuonyo, Nyatike and Nyando areas in Nyanza and Western Provinces," said the KRCS statement.

"Over 10,000 others have been affected, with most rendered homeless," it said, adding that KRCS will deliver relief supplies valued at 1.6 million Kenyan shillings (21,600 dollars) to the affected areas.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said floods on Thursday displaced thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya's northeastern camp of Dadaab.

"There have been no flood-related deaths, but considerable damage has been caused, especially to shelters, where several (hundreds of) structures have collapsed or have been washed away," UNHCR representative in Nairobi George Okoth-Obbo said.

Okoth-Obbo expressed fear that food rations that had been distributed to refugees two days ago might have been destroyed, and the agency was considering transfering the affected refugees to drier parts.

The head of UNHCR's office in Dadaab, Daisy Buruku, warned of a possible outbreak of water-born diseases among the 60,000 refugees housed there, most of whom fled civil strife in war-wracked Somalia, bacause pit latrines has collapsed or washed away.

As a result of the heavy down pour, UNHCR suspended airlifting of 300 refugees back to their homes in Galkayo and Bosasso, both in northeastern Somalia.

On Wednesday, three people, including a member of parliament, drowned when their vehicle was swept away while crossing a flooded river in Kenya's southeastern Machakos district.

On Monday, a mother and her two daughters died when mud from a landslide overran their home in western Kericho district.

SPACE.WIRE