The Nairobi County Government has issued fresh directives after heavy rains on Sunday, May 11, rendered key roads within the capital and its environs impassable.
Nairobi’s Chief Officer for Environment, Geoffrey Mosiria, sounded the alarm over what he believes is the key cause of flooding in the city, as he blamed the phenomenon on the construction of structures on the county's drainage systems.
While urging motorists to exercise caution during the rainy season, Mosiria also put city landlords on high alert as he vowed stern action on any structures which were impeding the flow of water in the county drainage systems.
"We issued a notice for the removal of structures from the drainage systems. With the growing population, land is covered by structures, so most of the water goes to the drainage systems," the Chief Officer of Environment observed.
"If you have constructed on top of drainage systems. Remove them before we remove them without giving a notice."
Mosiria further cautioned landlords who had extended their building structures onto the drainage systems were doing so unlawfully since it was an infringement on government property.
In a separate message to developers, the county official also issued a 30-metre safety warning to individuals living near riparian land, urging them to vacate areas considered danger zones to avoid loss of life.
He added, “To residents living near riparian land, please move at least 30 meters away from both sides of the river. We do not want to lose any lives,” he stated, adding that failure to comply would lead to forced relocations for the sake of public safety.
As far as drainage is concerned, the emergence of more building structures has affected the county's drainage system in several different ways, according to Mosiria.
One of the most common causes of flooding remains the construction of buildings without proper planning, which effectively affects natural water flow paths. This, in turn, accumulates water, forcing it to seek alternative routes and increasing flood risks.
On Sunday, the situation on the ground painted a dire picture, as images and videos obtained by Kenyans.co.ke showed several roads within the CBD completely flooded, making it impossible to cross the streets.
Earlier in the day, several workers were trapped at a site on Suswa Road, Parklands, after a wall collapsed on them. At the time of this publication, the fate of some of the workers remains uncertain.
Recently, Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja also tried to make sense of the flooding phenomenon in the city, as he attributed it to the drainage systems, which he says were built to accommodate light, seasonal rainfall.
