Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70

The number of people killed in floods in Kenya due to heavier than usual rainfall since the start of the monsoon in March has risen to 70, a government spokesperson said Friday.

Kenya and other countries in East Africa -- a region highly vulnerable to climate change -- have been pounded by heavier than usual rainfall in recent weeks, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.

"The official tally of fellow Kenyans who regrettably have lost their lives due to the flooding situation now stands at 70 lives," government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said on X, after torrential rains killed more than a dozen people in the capital Nairobi this week.

Mwaura said the government would issue a "comprehensive brief" following a meeting with the national emergency response committee after the extreme weather caused chaos across Nairobi this week, blocking roads and engulfing homes in slum districts.

Kenyans have been warned to stay on alert, with the forecast for more heavy rains across the country in coming days as the monsoon batters East Africa.

At least 155 people have died in neighbouring Tanzania due to flooding and landslides.

Tanzania Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said Thursday that more than 200,000 people had been affected by the disaster, with 155 fatalities and 236 people injured.

He said homes, property, crops and infrastructure such as roads, bridges, railways and schools had been damaged or destroyed.

- Regional destruction -

In Burundi, one of the poorest countries on the planet, around 96,000 people have been displaced by months of relentless rains, the United Nations and the government said this month.

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian response agency, OCHA, said in an update this week that in Somalia, the seasonal Gu rains from April to June are intensifying, with flash floods reported since April 19.

It said four people had been reportedly killed and more than 800 people affected or displaced nationwide.

Uganda has also suffered heavy storms that have caused riverbanks to burst, with two fatalities confirmed and several hundred villagers displaced.

Late last year, more than 300 people died in torrential rains and floods in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, just as the region was trying to recover from its worst drought in four decades that left millions of people hungry.

From October 1997 to January 1998, massive flooding caused more than 6,000 deaths in five countries in the region.