Kenyan government says floods have affected over 200 thousand people

(6 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kisumu County, Kenya - 6 May 2024
1. Various drone shots of villages submerged in flood waters ++MUTE++
2. Various shots of food aid on the table ready for distribution
3. Various shots of Mercelyne Atieno Anyanga and other displaced people at Ombaka Primary Evacuation Centre queuing to receive relief donations from the government
4. Close-up shot of Mercelyne Atieno Anyanga receiving aid donations
5. SOUNDBITE (Luo): Mercelyne Atieno Anyanga, widow and displaced woman:
"We are dying from this lake, the lake water is killing us down here, when I take a look around I get tongue-tied.”
6. Various of food donations being distributed
7. Cabinet Secretary for Information Communication Technology, Eliud Owalo, sitting and listening
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eliud Owalo, Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Information Communication Technology:
"What the government has done so far in response to those who are stranded is to provide helicopter services to evacuate people whose houses were marooned by water. In equal measure, we are providing short-term relief food support to the people so that those who are displaced can get food to eat. But long term, we are going to ensure that we do desilting of the lake so that the water from the river Nyando can flow inwards to the lake as opposed to outwards towards the households.”
9. Various drone shots of displaced people by the floods who are camping, waiting in the queue to be given relief foods ++MUTE++


STORYLINE:
Kenya’s President has postponed this week’s planned reopening of schools until further notice, as heavy rains and floods that have killed more than 200 people.

The Interior Ministry in a written statement said there are 164 people currently missing, with a total of 42,526 households that have been displaced, affecting over 210,000 people.

The Interior Ministry also said that they have begun setting up camps in various parts of the country to host those displaced by the flooding.

In Kisumu county, some of the displaced began receiving food aid.

Kenya and other parts of East Africa have been overwhelmed by flooding.

Schools originally were to reopen this week, but the education ministry postponed that by a week.

Students will now wait for the announcement of new reopening dates as some schools remain flooded and others have been damaged. Some displaced people have been living in schools while the government prepares to relocate them to camps.

The government has ordered people living near 178 dams and reservoirs that are either full or nearly full to evacuate or be forcefully moved.

Water levels at two major hydroelectric dams have reached historic highs and the government has warned those living downstream along the Tana River.

The government has been accused of an inadequate response to the floods.

The flooding has left more than 155 people dead in neighbouring Tanzania.

Hundreds of people have been affected in Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia as well.

AP Video by Fred Ooko

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