Seven die after their car is swept away by floods

People perched on a tree in Kinangop, Nyandarua County. Three people were killed when the car they were travelling in was swept away by flood water. [Gideon Maundu, Standard]

Nine people have died as floods continue to wreak havoc in various parts of the country.

In the first incident, seven people drowned when the car they were travelling in was swept away by floods on the Maraigushu-Githabai road in Kinangop, Nyandarua County, yesterday.

Two other passengers survived. The victims are all from Maraigushu village.

Police and residents had to wait for more than two hours for water levels to subside before they could retrieve the bodies.

Maina Muiruri, a witness, blamed the accident on poor workmanship on the road. He said the section of the road where the accident happened had no guard rails yet the road was recently rehabilitated.

He said the vehicle veered off the road and landed upside down in a ditch.

“Seven passengers, who included three women, died while two men escaped,” he said.

David Wainana, a boda boda operator said: “I was riding on the road but was unable to pass this section of the road due to the high levels of water. I had to find an alternative route."

Njabini police boss Eliud Monari said they had recovered all seven bodies and the mangled wreck of the car.

“We have taken the bodies to the Naivasha Sub-County Hospital mortuary and we are calling on drivers to be cautious, especially during the ongoing rains,” he said.

In the second incident, a woman and her daughter drowned when they were swept away by floods in Makueni County when Kamunyolo Dam burst its banks near Wote town.

Their house was swept away by floods at around 5am yesterday while they slept.

Nyunzu Dam was the first to burst its banks.

Witnesses told The Standard that the rains started at around 4:30pm on Saturday and went on until yesterday morning.

“We were confined to our houses from Saturday evening till around 9am (yesterday) and that was when we realised that neighbours’ house had been swept away,” said Francisca Musila.

Three missing

Esther Maitha, another neighbour, said: “There were screams; the woman was crying in agony but when we went to the homestead, it was too late - everything had been washed away. Three people were missing.”

After hours of searching, residents and police found a man alive on a tree. The bodies of the woman and her daughter were found a kilometre away.

Makueni police boss Bosita Omukholongolo confirmed the incident and said it “happened in the early morning hours while the family was asleep”.

“Unfortunately, the mother and the daughter died but the husband survived after climbing a tree,” he added.

The man was taken to Makueni Level Four Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, vehicles using the Mombasa-Nairobi highway were advised to divert to the Makindu-Wote-Machakos-Junction route after a bridge near Sultan Hamud was declared too dangerous to use.

And transport along the Marigat-Lake Bogoria Game Reserve road was yesterday paralysed after floods destroyed a bridge after Liboi River burst its banks.

The bridge, which is two kilometers away from the main entrance to the game reserve, was swept away on Saturday night.

Lake Bogoria Game Reserve Chief Warden James Kimaru said a pillar supporting the middle section of the bridge was swept away by floods.

Mr Kimaru said movement to and from the park had been hampered as the road through the bridge led to the main entrance to the park.

“An alternative route to the park through Mogotio Maji Moto is slightly far and muddy - a stretch of more than 60km,” he said.

Kimaru said he had contacted the county government and the matter was being resolved.

No one was injured or swept away by the floods as the bridge collapsed during the night, when many had left the game reserve.

An emergency response team has been deployed to the area.

Transport to Muchongoi, Mukutani and Sandai remained paralysed by last evening.

Tourist facilities at Lake Bogoria Game Reserve include the park lodge and four campsites. Visitors can also bathe in the hot springs, which form a natural spa.

[Reporting by Antony Gitonga, Stephen Nzioka and Julius Chepkwony]