Counties

Weatherman issues flood alert as heavy rains pound Coast

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A motorist drives through a flooded section of Mbaraki Road in Mombasa after a heavy downpour on September 20. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NMG

The weatherman has issued a flood alert at the Coast as heavy rainfall hits the region in the next four days.

The Kenya Meteorological Department singled out the Coastal Strip, which covers counties of Mombasa, Tana River, Kilifi, Lamu and Kwale.

It said the flooding will be heaviest in low laying areas near the coastline, in river beds, near dams and other repositories and warned residents against walking or driving through the water.

“Flood water may suddenly appear in places where it hasn’t rained heavily and can be deeper and faster than it looks,” read a statement sent to newsrooms and copied to disaster response teams.

Mr Samwel Mwangi, the Department’s assistant director said: “There have been reports that the South Coast had already started receiving the heavy rains and this is expected to start spreading towards the North Coast starting tomorrow (Wednesday).”

Mr Mwangi said that rainfall is also expected mainly over the highlands West of the Rift Valley with parts of the highlands East of the Rift Valley (including Nairobi) and parts of the northwest also likely to receive some rainfall on a number of days.

Other parts including Kisii, Nyamira and Trans Nzoia, as well as East of the Rift Valley and South East are also expected to have rainfall during the period.

However, the rest of the country is expected to have sunny intervals with afternoon showers experienced over few places.

The Lake Victoria Basin covering Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay and Migori is expected to continue be sunny throughout the forecast period and is likely to have rainfall on Thursday and Friday.

The region is also likely to continue experiencing afternoon showers and thunderstorms over few places.

The central region including Nairobi is expected to experience cloudy mornings accompanied by rains over few places up to Thursday. This region consists of counties of Nairobi, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Kiambu, Meru, Embu, and Tharaka Nithi.

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The North Eastern counties of Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Isiolo are likely to experience rainfall over few places near Garissa and Moyale on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

The rest of the days are expected to be sunny throughout the forecast period with temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius and 36 degrees Celsius.

The same weather pattern is also expected in the South Eastern counties of Kitui, Makueni, Machakos and Taita Taveta where the region is expected to experience mainly sunny intervals the whole day throughout the forecast period with only Tuesday to Thursday likely to experience afternoon showers over few places.

The temperatures will, nonetheless, be lower between 12 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

On the other hand, North Western counties of Turkana, West Pokot and Samburu are expected to experience sunny intervals throughout the day for much of the forecast period with temperatures between the highs of 25 degrees Celsius and 35 degrees Celsius.