Rains begin in Nairobi, power supply goes the other way

Residents of Nairobi braving the rains in the central business district on March 16, 2023. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Rains began pounding most parts of Nairobi on Wednesday evening, March 15, and power supply was disrupted in many estates.

Some of the neighbourhoods plunged into darkness include most parts of Eastlands such as Umoja, Kayole, Buruburu, Makadara, Donholm and Komarock.

Other areas are Lang'ata, Kasarani, Likoni Road, All Sops, Ruaraka, Outering Road, Dandora, Westlands, Mihang'o, Mathare, Kahawa Sukari, Eastleigh, Saika and Karen.

Satellite towns such as Kamulu, Joska, Ngong Town, Ongata Rongai, Lower Kabete, Kitengela and far-flung parts of Thika Road and Kangundo Road also reported power outage.

In some of the areas such as Umoja, Ongata Rongai and Kitengela, the Kenya Power said the outage was as a result of faulty power lines, and that restoration efforts were underway.

The Kenya Power had announced on Wednesday evening that parts of Kasarani, Mwiki, Imara Daima and Mukuru would experience disruption from 9am to 5pm to allow for maintenance.

The March 16 power maintenance is also scheduled to take place in parts of Kajiado County, Uasin Gishu, Kisumu and Kiambu counties.

The Kenya Meteorological Department had projected relatively long March to May rainy season in Western Kenya, Rift Valley and Central regions.

Nairobi is also scheduled to experience rains of varied intensity.

As the rainy season began in the city, most roads became impassable, with heavy traffic experienced on busy routes such as Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Lang'ata Road.

According to Dr. David Gikungu, the Director of the Kenya Meteorological Department, below-average rainfall will be experienced in some parts of the country and near-average in others.

"Below-average rainfall is expected over the Lake Victoria Basin, Highlands West of the Rift Valley, Central Rift Valley, Highlands East of the Rift Valley (including Nairobi County), Coastal region, most of Northeastern and Southeastern Lowlands, and Western parts of Narok," he said in a recent statement.

"Near-average rainfall is expected over parts of Northwestern (Central and eastern Turkana), parts of South Rift Valley (Eastern Narok), parts of Southeastern lowlands (Kajiado), and the Western parts of Marsabit," added Dr. Gikungu.