Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has issued a directive that city residents living in flood-affected areas be issued an evacuation notice and relocated to higher ground.
In a press conference on Wednesday, the Governor, together with the Kenya Red Cross and other stakeholders, pledged to provide victims with food, mattresses, blankets, sanitary kits, emergency drugs, water purification tablets, and education support in the interim.
“We have mapped out areas where people need to be evacuated and we will be evacuating those people. We had asked people to move and many were not able to move. Some encroached on riparian,” he said.
“There are buildings whose walls are right on the river and we will begin clearing those now. Because it’s no longer a negotiation, those need to have been opened up.”
Sakaja mentioned the reinstallation of bridges that were swept away by floods, insisting that this will be done in affected areas before schools reopen for the second term.
“One of the areas of intervention is the need for urgent installation of bridges. We have several bridges that have been swept away,” the Governor stated.
He also urged the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) to ensure their engineers are available to repair roads damaged by the ravaging rains in the city.
“Many roads have also been affected including disruption of human movement and traffic such as Mbagathi Way, Jogoo Road, Enterprise Road, Lang’ata South Road, Eastern Bypass, and many others across the city,” he said.
“We understand that in as much as not all roads fall under the jurisdiction of the county, the people know the county so we are working closely with KeNHA and KURA and also KeRRA to make sure that their engineers are on the ground.”
The Nairobi Governor mentioned that an estimated 60,000 people, mostly women and children, have been severely affected following the devastating floods which have hit the city, and urged residents to cooperate with authorities.
“We are on the brink of a humanitarian crisis in the city. We have a large-scale coordinated response, together with our partners, the Red Cross. We urge the people of Nairobi to cooperate with authorities,” he added.
