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 by Staff Writers Nairobi (AFP) Nov 25, 2019
The death toll from floods and landslides in Kenya's west over the weekend has climbed to 52, an official said Monday, with more heavy rain forecast to lash the region. Bodies were still being recovered in the Pokot region, 350 kilometres (220 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, after powerful walls of mud and rock swept away homes and buried people in their sleep early Saturday. West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo said a mother and her three children were among those found by rescuers sifting through the devastation. "The number of people confirmed dead now is 52", he told reporters Monday, adding some had been buried and others taken to the mortuary. Kenya's interior ministry said Saturday that army and police helicopters have been sent to West Pokot, where the initial death toll was around 30. Rescue efforts were delayed because roads and bridges had been cut after streams turned into raging torrents, and Lonyangapuo said transport remained a problem. The Kenya Meteorological Department has warned that more heavy rainfall is expected to lash parts of country until Tuesday, including in West Pokot, and urged people to be on high alert for landslides. The landslides and floods come amid weeks of destructive rains and flooding across the wider East African region. In Tanzania, at least 10 people drowned early Saturday when they were swept away by a torrential river in the far west, in the Sengerema district of Mwanza. Violent downpours have also displaced half a million in Somalia, submerged whole towns in South Sudan and killed dozens in flash floods and landslides in Ethiopia. Close to a million people in South Sudan alone are affected, with growing fears of disease and starvation. Floods hit East Africa regularly but scientists say that it has been exacerbated by a powerful climate phenomenon in the Indian Ocean stronger than any seen in years. The extreme weather is blamed on the Indian Ocean Dipole -- a climate system defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between western and eastern areas of the ocean. The ocean off East Africa is currently far warmer than usual, resulting in higher evaporation and consequent rain over the continent.
Three die as storm front batters Greece The bodies of two men were recovered after their yacht capsized and sank in the port of Antirion, near the city of Patras, a senior coastguard official told AFP. Antirion lies 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Athens. Moving eastwards, the storm then caused flooding in the Halkidiki peninsula and the island of Rhodes, where a disabled elderly woman died in her home, the fire department said. Gale-force winds also disrupted some ferry services on the Ionian Sea. Earlier Monday, flooding and landslides at Kinetta, a seaside town 50 kilometres south of Athens, closed rail servoce and the motorway linking the capital to the Peloponnesian peninsula in the southwest. Workers laboured through the day to clear the mud, stones and fallen trees the storm left in its wake. A fire destroyed much of the vegetation at Kinetta in 2018, making it more susceptible to landslides. Strong winds also caused the cancellation of some ferry services linking the Cyclades islands from the ports of Rafina and Lavrion in the east, and closed some ports in the northeast. Dozens of houses were flooded and the emergency services said they had to evacuate some residents. Flooding in the Attica region around Athens has become more frequent in recent years because of deforestation caused by wildfires. In November 2017, a mudslide caused by heavy rains killed 23 people at Mandra, 50 kilometres west of the capital.
East Africa storms kill 39 in Kenya and Tanzania Nairobi (AFP) Nov 23, 2019 Heavy rains lashing East Africa have caused of dozens of deaths, with 29 buried by landslides in Kenya, and 10 people drowned in a river in Tanzania, officials said Saturday. The landslides and floods come amid weeks of destructive rains and flooding across the wider East African region. At least 29 people were killed in Kenya when their homes were swept away in landslides during ferocious overnight rainstorms. Their homes were hit in the early hours of Saturday amid torrential rains in the ... read more
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