(30 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++CLIENTS NOTE: EDIT CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES OF A DEAD BODY++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kamuchira Village, Mai Mahiu, Kenya – 30 April 2024
1. Various of a car perched on top of an uprooted tree
2. Various of rescuers lifting an uprooted tree to remove a cow beneath
3. Various of a corpse being pulled from under a tree ++GRAPHIC++
4. Rescuers carrying a dead body
5. Various of rescuers removing logs
6. Various of women mourning and crying
7. Corpse in a body bag being carried
8. Wide of man digging through rubble
9. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Sam Njoroge, resident of Kamuchira Village:
"You can see here beds and other belongings. If these came this far then it means there might be people stuck under the mud and trunks. If we can get better equipment we would get more people, because now we are using very substandard ones like this hoe."
10. Njoroge and other rescuers pulling tree logs
11. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Sam Njoroge, resident of Kamuchira Village:
"That tunnel started blocking on Wednesday and the local government knew about it. So according to me, the government was negligent because if they acted fast they would unblock the tunnel and all these deaths would not have happened. As a victim, who has lost relatives, and seen children swept away by water, I strongly believe negligence by some people cost us dearly."
12. Various of muddy cars that were swept away
13. Muddy, broken keyboard
14. Animal corpse under branches
15. Various of trees and cars swept downstream
STORYLINE:
Flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road in Kenya, killing at least 45 people and leaving dozens missing on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.
Rescuers pored through the destruction in Kemuchira village on Tuesday, retrieving corpses and lamenting the substandard equipment available.
"You can see here beds and other belongings. If these came this far then it means there might be people stuck under the mud and trunks. If we can get better equipment we would get more people, because now we are using very substandard ones like this hoe," said Sam Njoroge, a village resident.
Police official Stephen Kirui initially told The Associated Press that the Old Kijabe Dam, located in the Mai Mahiu area of the Great Rift Valley region that is prone to flash floods, had collapsed, carrying with it mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
But in a statement late Monday the Nakuru County said that the water mass that caused the flash floods was a clogged railway tunnel.
"I strongly believe negligence by some people cost us dearly," Njoroge added
Vehicles were entangled in the debris on one of Kenya’s busiest highways and paramedics treated the injured as waters submerged large areas.
The Kenya Red Cross said 109 people were hospitalized while 49 others were reported missing.
Ongoing rains in Kenya have caused flooding that has killed at least 169 people since mid-March, and the country’s Meteorology Department has warned of more rainfall.
Kenya’s Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki ordered the inspection of all public and private dams and water reservoirs within 24 hours starting Monday afternoon to avert future incidents.
The ministry said recommendations for evacuations and resettlement would be done after the inspection.
The Kenya National Highways Authority issued an alert warning motorists to brace for heavy traffic and debris that blocked the roads around Naivasha and Narok, west of the capital, Nairobi.
AP video shot by Joe Mwihia
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