Where in Kenya the Covid-19 virus does not seem to have arrived yet, in the most remote moorlands of the Rift Valley, West Pokot County, the first major rains of the year have instead caused devastation and deaths. It is an endemic and unfortunately usual plague every year, which adds to the worry of a new great scourge that is almost felt as the lesser evil by those who have always fought with famine and the inclemency of natural events on poor rural communities.
The flash floods have particularly hit the citizens of West Pokot this weekend, but also of Narok and Elgeyo Marakwet counties with very serious consequences.
The images circulating on the net paint a picture of devastation, with overflowing rivers that have torn up bridges, blocked roads and caused landslides that have buried houses and destroyed cultivated fields.
Rift Valley regional coordinator George Natembeya, who visited some of the affected areas in Chesogon along the Elgeyo-Marakwet-West-Pokot border, confirmed that at least four people are unaccounted for, while 23 others have died as a result of the Saturday night floods. It is feared that several more people have died and some properties have been destroyed by flash floods and landslides along the Elgeyo-Marakwet-West Pokot border.
Elgeyo-Marakwet police commander John Mwinzi told the Daily Nation newspaper that several areas have been isolated, including the village of Chesogon.
"We have received reports that the area has been affected by landslides and flooding," Mwinzi said. "Reportedly, so many people have been affected. We have difficulty in accessing the area because all the bridges have been destroyed by flooding".
Among the victims of the floods and heavy rains that led to landslides in the hilly areas, there is also a 3-year-old boy who was buried alive by a mudslide that hit his village in the area of Oldonyo Ngiro.
The mother and three other children, caught by the landslide while sleeping in their manyatta, have been hospitalized in Narok and are in serious but curable condition, with fractures and internal injuries. The rains on these two days have not spared other regions that risk finding themselves in similar situations, and on Sunday they also affected coastal and eastern regions of the country. From Tuesday the situation could improve slightly.