LETTERS: Sustainable solution needed to end weather woes

Heavy rains and strong winds that have pummeled the coastal region are causing enormous stress to residents, travellers and tourists. The rains have hit tourism, trade and fishing in the Indian Ocean, destroyed property and heightened the risk of residents contracting waterborne diseases such as bilharzia, cholera and dysentery.

Flash floods in the region have increased chances of people contracting malaria as they provide ideal breeding zones for mosquitoes, which spread the disease. Apparently mosquitoes also spread dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika virus among other dreadful viral diseases that are difficult to manage through medication.

Because of the low-lying landscape at the coast, it has been observed that whenever the region receives heavy rains transport becomes paralyzed from the island to the mainland. Passengers and business people moving between Kenya and Tanzania get stranded along the Msambweni-Lunga Lunga road, in Kwale County.

The only alternative for the travelers is the Mwangulu-Simba Hills route to get to Ukunda and Mombasa, which inconveniences them as it is long and cumbersome. Mothers with children, the elderly and the sick who must tarry at the waiting bays at Likoni before moving to either sides using the ferry as well as the school going children who must get home or at school in time are also inconvenienced by the rains.

Criminals also take advantage of the bad weather to harass residents as there is slow response from neighbors or from the police because of floods or congestion.

Loose soil structures and low-lying landscapes that easily allow water to percolate have routinely led to paralyzed transport systems in many places across the country. In Mai-Mahiu and in Kainuk, passengers transporting perishables from Kisumu or Kisii to Nairobi, or from Kitale, Eldoret or Kapenguria to Turkana or to the South Sudan endure immeasurable losses when bridges are washed away or become over flooded.

With no alternative route for them, they are compelled spending nights in the cold, which makes them susceptible to contracting pneumonia. Whenever weather related disaster strikes, there is a sense of agitation to support the affected that resonates across various quarters.

However, this agitation withers as soon as the weather normalizes only for calls for resuscitating the withered efforts to re-synergize when another weather-induced tragedy strikes. The low-lying areas in Kwale, Tana River, Kilifi, Mombasa and Lamu are routinely prone to floods, a phenomena that is worsened when rains are accompanied by strong winds. This has also been the experience in Baringo County and for much of the counties in the lake region. These hotspots account for nearly 45 percent of all malaria cases in the country, costing between $50 and $75 to treat a single case.

The estimated cost for treating children alone is about 110 million dollars, annually. In addition to these worrying statistics is the revelation that malaria accounts for 30, 000 deaths every year. A comprehensive analysis of the direct and the indirect effects that are related with flash floods will be more worrying.

The Kenya Meteorological Department plays a pivotal role in alerting residents, motorists and the aviation industry of the looming weather disaster. However, agencies responsible in ensuring the safety of the people should be quick and fast in evacuating people from risky areas to safer zones before disaster manifest.

Meteorological knowledge should guide when construction and widening of trenches and roads should be done, preferably during periods of more favorable weather, than rushing at the eleventh hour only to have the work done but shoddily.

Weather related disasters, if not well managed can catalyze inequality in development in the affected areas. This is because households spend much of their time hunting for safety in higher grounds but also for sources of fuel for domestic use as many households depend on firewood. It is therefore important supporting them through provision of food, medicines, alternative sources of energy like gases and other basics. Proper designing of roads and trenches and proper disposal of waste so that flooded water does not contaminate drinking water in pipes is important.

There is need for provision of sufficient treated mosquito nets to residents, equipping hospitals with enough medicine and continued need to build capacity of health workers and volunteers who educate communities on how to prevent themselves from contracting the diseases.

Obed Nyangena economist and commentator on contemporary environmental issues.