Heavy Rains in Kenya Kill at Least 18 in Floods and Landslides

At least 18 people have died in floods and landslides caused by heavy rains across several parts of Kenya, police said Sunday. Landslides were reported in the central and eastern counties of Tharaka Nithi, Elgeyo-Marakwet and Kiambu.

Police confirmed 18 deaths and urged residents to exercise caution amid severe weather. Authorities said the landslides were affecting “many families, displacing many households, causing significant damage to property and infrastructure.” They warned people living in landslide-prone or flood-prone areas to remain vigilant. The number of displaced people remains unknown.

Local media reports showed streets in the capital, Nairobi, submerged, with cars and pedestrians wading through swift waters. On Sunday, traders in the capital’s Makongeni and Ruai neighborhoods protested deteriorating roads during the rainy season, saying the conditions hurt their businesses.

On Friday, the Kenya Meteorological Department warned that heavy rains posed a risk of waterborne diseases and could cause widespread damage to crops and farmland. This is the second deadly flooding event in Kenya in less than two months. In March, flash floods in parts of Nairobi killed at least 37 people.

The East African nation is experiencing its long rainy season, which runs from March to May and typically peaks in mid-May. However, experts have long warned that human-caused climate change is worsening weather extremes in Kenya and other East African countries. “Across African cities, extreme water events – too much in heavy rains and too little in droughts – are causing increasingly severe impacts,” said Fruzsina Straus, head of disaster risk reduction at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in a report last week, stressing that “cities must rapidly adapt to this new water volatility.”