Kenya Flooding Death Toll Climbs to 70 since March

Kenya and other countries in East Africa — a region highly vulnerable to climate change — have been lashed by severe downpours in recent weeks, Al Jazeera reported.

“The official tally of fellow Kenyans who regrettably have lost their lives due to the flooding situation now stands at 70 lives,” government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said on X on Friday, after torrential rains killed 32 people in the capital Nairobi this week.

Fifteen people were killed in the Rift Valley region, the government also said in a report on Friday, following a meeting of the country’s disaster response committee.

More than 120,000 people have been displaced by the floods, the report said, with 22 others injured and eight reported missing.

Kenyans have been warned to stay on alert, with more heavy rains forecast across the country in the coming days as the monsoon batters East Africa.

The flooding has been compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.

A naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, El Nino can lead to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.