STORY: Flood crisis in Kenya leaves thousands homeless
SHOOTING TIME: April 26, 2024
DATELINE: April 28, 2024
LENGTH: 00:06:11
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the flood and damaged houses
2. STANDUP (English): RUTH WANGARA, Xinhua reporter
3. various of the flood and locals
4. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): DICKSON MAKASI, Local resident
5. various of the flood and locals
6. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): DOWLYNE ANGELA, Local resident
7. various of the flood and locals
8. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): SOSPETER ANDURU, Member of County Assembly, Lucky Summer
9. various of locals at shelter

STORYLINE:

Kenya has been experiencing heavy rains, which led to floods affecting 34 counties in the East Africa country. According to reports by the Kenya Red Cross, the death toll is at least 70, and the number is expected to rise in the coming days as the heavy rains continue.

The reports show that an estimated 12,000 people have been displaced and about 130,000 households affected countrywide. The effects of the floods were felt heavily by the people living along river banks and congested areas.

STANDUP (English): RUTH WANGARA, Xinhua reporter
"This is Mathare, one of the biggest slums in Nairobi, the Kenya capital. As you can see behind me, this is one of the places that was adversely affected by the ongoing floods. Just two days ago, there was heavy downpour that left many houses here submerged. Right next (to me), as you can see, is the Nairobi river, one of the longest in this country. Many of the people here in the slums, because of the situation, have buildings near the river and many of them ended up getting washed away. The government and the Red Cross recorded at least 13 people who died from the floods that were experienced in this slum."

Dickson Makasi, one of the residents of Mathare who was seen trying to rebuild his house, told Xinhua that they had to watch part of their home getting washed away while struggling for safety to avoid drowning.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): DICKSON MAKASI, Local resident
"I have stayed here for so long. I have never seen such a thing and when it happened yesterday but one. In fact, we were so frustrated, because my two rooms here were washed away by flood and right now we don't have anything. I have my children. By good luck, my children were not around. We stayed here with my wife who is disabled. And you see, now carrying my disabled wife through the roof of the house because of the evacuation, it was so very difficult."

Dowlyne Angela and her family also living in a nearby area recounted her experience to Xinhua.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): DOWLYNE ANGELA, Local resident
"I am 18 years old. I live with my mum and dad, and I have four siblings, one brother and three sisters. We got affected. As you can see, this is our house. Right now the water has kind of gone down but the water was reaching my waist, so it was hard to walk, even do things. Most of our beddings, our things had water. We never had a way to survive. We were just sleeping on the rooftop. Just staying awake 'cause you never know what will happen next. "

The flood victims have been evacuated to nearby schools that were turned into rescue centers. Government officials and community leaders said women and children were most affected. The rescue centers are overseeing provision of food and water.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): SOSPETER ANDURU, Member of County Assembly, Lucky Summer
"Most are women and children. We have some of them who are sick as we speak now, because of the weather and because of flooding, because some of them did not agree to come to the places. So we had to take them out. But most of them have sickness and then all their beddings have been swept away by the flood."

The Kenya government announced on Friday that it has set aside an estimated 38.5 million USD in response to the disaster.

Other countries affected in the region are Tanzania and Burundi.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)