At least thirteen people are confirmed dead and several others are unaccounted for as heavy rain and flash floods caused chaos around Nairobi on Monday evening.
The downpour, which started in the early evening, flooded major roads, halting traffic, and destroyed several residential buildings.
Twelve of the dead lost their lives when a wall collapsed on them in the Fuata Nyayo slum in Nairobi. According to Makadara OCPD Nehemiah Langat, a 25-metre section of the six-metre-high perimeter wall of a local mosque collapsed on business stalls where people were sheltering from the rain.
Langat said a National Disaster Management Unit response team arrived 30 minutes after the collapse and started rescue operations, but the heavy rain hampered the rescuers, forcing them to suspend all activity at 2am, after retrieving seven bodies. The exercise resumed at 6am, when three more bodies were retrieved, he said.
The dead include two minors, four women and four men. Langat said eight people survived, including four who were seriously injured and admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital, and four others who were treated at various hospitals and discharged.
Nairobi South MCA Manoah Mboku accused City Hall officials of declining to provide ambulances or tractors to help in the rescue.
“I called the engineers and was told to call the National Youth Service crew to help with equipment and personnel,” he said at the scene. Locals said the rescue operation was very slow because of lack of equipment.
Starehe MP Maina Kamanda said that the poor quality of materials used to build the wall might have contributed to its collapse, adding that the metal beams used were too thin and weak to support a six-metre-high structure. He urged the county government to investigate and prosecute the officials who approved the construction of the wall.
Kamanda said the officials of the mosque must take responsibility for ensuring the safety of neighbouring residents as well as protect their property. He pledged to pay the funeral expenses, including coffins and the transport of bodies.
