Elderly, disabled now stranded after floods

Justina Abong'o prepares vegetables for a meal inside Kogalo Evacuation Center in Muhoroni, Kisumu County on April 19, 2018. [Photo by Denish Ochieng/Standard]

Hundreds of residents whose homes were recently flooded are stuck at rescue centres, even as leaders seek a long-term solution. The most affected are the elderly, the disabled, women and children.

The floods destroyed houses, washed away crops, cut off roads and left hundreds without food. The residents also risk contracting waterborne diseases.

Governor Anyang Nyong’o described the Kano floods as the worst since 1963 when a similar catastrophe hit the Nyando river belt and its environs.

“It is a disaster. I have never seen anything like this since 1963,” Prof Nyong’o said after visiting evacuation camps where the elderly, the disabled, women and children lay on mats waiting for food donations and medicine.

Still stranded

Although most of the 200 displaced people have returned to their homes, a number of the elderly, their grandchildren and people living with disabilities were still stranded at the centres because their houses had been destroyed.

The Standard found Charles Opiyo, the blind man who has become the face of Kisumu flood disaster, staggering as he sought help at his flooded compound at Namba Orongo. “I use my stick to find my way and also stay steady so that the water does not sweep me into the lake,” he said.

Mr Opiyo’s house was submerged and his only option is to seek shelter from the few established evacuation centres. “At some point, I thought I had been thrown out of my house and swept into the lake because I have experienced nothing like this before,” he said.

Opiyo said at one point he fell into the flood waters, called for help in vain, and lost his walking stick in the process. He sat all night long on the wet bed as his feet 'floated' on the waters, him waiting for help. Neighbours later helped him to the nearest evacuation centre.

Grass-thatched

Caleb Odhiambo, 39, was taken to the evacuation centre by his sister. Mr Odhiambo is deaf and his grass-thatched house was flooded.

Meanwhile, at least 12 elderly women were yesterday left at a rescue centre in Gatundu village in Obiayo, Muhoroni. In total, about 1,600 families were displaced in Kisumu following the recent floods.

Although some residents have started reconstructing their houses, several elderly women said they could not return to their homes as they were inhabitable.