Kerio Valley flood victims appeal for help, mud houses soggy
Hundreds of residents of Kapluk sublocation in Baringo North are appealing for aid after their mud homes were flooded during heavy rains.
Residents said the situation was made worse by an unfinished road culvert that pours rainwater into their area. Water also flows down from the hills.
Led by Musa Kipkoti, the 30 worst-hit families are spending the night in the cold in Katane and Turkuin villages in the Kerio Valley.
“It has forced most of our people to live in the raised food granaries after rainwater drained inside and filled the floors of our temporary mud-wall houses,” Kipkoti told the Star on Wednesday.
They want help to build permanent houses and to get emergency food relief and supplies.
He said the situation has persisted since the rains started two months ago but it worsened in the past two weeks.
Muchukwo sublocation chief Julius Tibino blamed heavy rains, saying he was still assessing the damage.
Some people are digging trenches around their mud-wall houses to drain away flood water. Many houses are no habitable.
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
The residents also blamed an unfinished culvert on the Oinobmoi-Kapluk-Barwessa road, which is being tarmacked. Rain has made work impossible.
“The wide culvert connecting Kapluk and Kiptolelyo is draining a lot of water to our homesteads and farms,” Kipkoti said.
He also said the floods have made access roads impassable. The water flows downhill from the Kutungoichun and the Kapluk Hills.
“We thank the Kenya Red Cross team for donating some tents, bedding and utensils to 31 families in Kiptolelyo village but most of the families missed out,” Kipkoti said.
He urged the government and well-wishers to assist them in building permanent houses and supplying more food and supplies.
“We also need warm clothes to protect ourselves, especially our children, from contracting pneumonia,” Gladys Kandie said.
.jpg)
Post a Comment