Relatives overcome with emotion as they pay their respects at the funeral of the victims of the massive flood and landslide that killed dozens of people near the Rift Valley town of Mai Mahiu on May 9, 2024. (Photo credit: SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images)
Southern Kenya is the best of Kenya. Its lush landscape stretches from the dramatic cliffs of the Rift Valley in the west, through the highlands of Nairobi, through the vast plains of the Masai Mara, and to the vast beaches of Lamu, Malindi and Mombasa in the east.
However, it has taken a significant hit over the past two weeks. The rains, which began in mid-March, were of historic intensity, causing rivers and dams to burst, causing flash floods and destroying lives, homes and infrastructure.
The disaster began in the early morning hours of April 23, when the Matale River rose. Water flowing through the densely populated, low-income area named after the river swept away huts and killed people, including children.
At least 40 bodies have been pulled from the river so far, but about 24 residents are still missing, according to the Mathare Social Justice Center.
Three days later, at least 10 people were killed when a truck overturned while crossing the swollen Kwa Mswi River in Makueni County. The next day, the Tana River burst its banks, damaging parts of the Garsen-Lamu highway and leaving buses carrying tourists stranded in Kona Punda.
Meanwhile, in the capital Nairobi, several major roads, including the Thika Expressway and the Eastern Bypass, were submerged in water, making them nearly impassable.
The most shocking incident occurred on April 29 near the town of Maai Mahiu in Nakuru County. In the middle of the night, the wall of the canal, built in the 1930s, was breached, sending water and mud down the hill, inundating more than 100 homes.
At last count, more than 70 people were killed.
Shortly after that tragedy, the Tarek River in Masai Mara burst its banks last week, flooding luxury resorts and forcing the evacuation of tourists. At one resort, tourists spent the night sitting on top of a water tank to escape the rising waters that flooded their property.
Kenyans have been shaken by the magnitude of the situation and have blamed everyone.
President William Ruto has consistently pointed to climate change as the biggest challenge facing Africa.
In turn, he and his government are blamed by its traumatized survivors – just the latest in a series of governments that have failed them.
“If anyone claims that my mother died because of climate change, please know that it is a lie. It was the government that killed her,” Collins-Bond told Al Jazeera. He is the son of activist Benna Bulma, who drowned in Mathare on April 23.
“My mother spent years fighting for neglected people in the slums,” Bond said. “And that same government negligence killed her.”
The Kenya Society of Surveyors condemned the general disregard for planning and zoning regulations by property developers and the destruction of wetlands as people settled in riverside areas such as Mathare.
But there's one thing everyone agrees on. That means Kenya was not ready.
This is despite Mr Ruto's public warnings about the dangers of climate change and after the first African Climate Summit was held in Nairobi last year.
But in a speech in Maai Mahiu last week, he admitted that Kenya does not have a disaster strategy.
“We must have a complete plan to manage our problems in the new normal, the new reality of climate change.”
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