At Least Seven Dead in Nairobi as Flooding Hits City

Authorities were busy with rapid response operations in Nairobi, Kenya on Monday, March 25, following floods that killed at least seven people in the city, according to reporting from NTV and The Star Kenya.

A heavy downpour hit Nairobi on Sunday night, causing extensive flooding which was made worse by the city’s poor drainage system, local media reported.

One of the people who died during the floods was an on-duty police officer who was helping with the rescue operations, NTV said.

Footage released by Nairobi’s Governor Sakaja Arthur Johnson shows authorities attempting to drain the water from flooded streets in the city.

Sakaja Arthur Johnson “extended his solidarity” to the families who had lost loved ones during the floods and talked about the disaster management efforts.

He also said he was deploying 170 members of the Green Army, a group that helps with environmental cleanup, to help with the rapid response efforts. Credit: Sakaja Arthur Johnson via Storyful

Video transcript

SAKAJA A. JOHNSON: We stand in solidarity with those other families that have lost loved ones in Waruku, in Kasarani, and in Dandora. Also here in Viwandani, we have lost someone. And when we finish here, we are going to that site.

I'm very happy our teams have come to unclog. We normally do this daily, but I think just the heavy, heavy downpour overwhelmed the capacity of our infrastructure. And we have our command center both at Red Cross and at the county government, at City Hall. The command center is coordinating all disaster management efforts across the city of Nairobi.

And we shall give a hotline number. If there is any issue that anyone sees, anyone wants to respond to an emergency, please call 1508. That is our disaster response number fully-manned 24 hours.

We are deploying 170 out of the 2,500 Green Army. In the southern hot spots, we are deploying 170, batches of 170, to just focus and to do rapid response on those specific areas that are affected. And they are forming rapid response units across the city. This will complement the normal daily work that you see our young people doing every day.