The toll of the week of continuous bad weather on the Kenyan coast is getting worse by the hour, and institutions in the various counties agree that it is the most disastrous small rainy season in memory, in a region that tends to be quiet in this respect.

It seems that the water wanted to make up all at once for the five years of drought with rainfall well below seasonal averages, and this caused flooding, mudslides, bridge collapses and flooding in which vehicles and motorbikes plunged.
As of Saturday afternoon, there were 11 confirmed dead, but there are fears for the lives of at least 200 people of whom there are no traces, especially in the Tana river basin, which has flooded and whose levels are not dropping.

The regional coordinator of the coast, Rodah Onyancha, told The Standard newspaper that more than 5,000 families will be moved to safer and higher areas than the river level. Instead, more than 300 families have lost their homes, swept away by the fury of the waters and mud in the city of Mombasa alone.

In the stretch of road between Ukunda and Diani, at Ramisi, the water invaded the lanes, making kilometres of road impassable, and 3 people were swept away by the waves: a boda boda driver (the local motorbike taxis) and two employees of the state treasury, whose whereabouts were lost.
The same fate befell 3 other people in Kilifi County, where other disasters were reported.

Last week, the bad weather hit the north-east of the country, with the flooding of Mandera that caused a dozen deaths and left 10,000 families homeless. This week it was the turn of the coast and the forecasts, although showing a slight improvement, say that Cyclone El Niño has not yet completed its devastating work.