RSOE EDIS - Situation Update No. 1 : Kenya - Flash Flood

RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Budapest, Hungary RSOE EDIS ALERTMAIL

Situation Update No. 1 Posted:2010-03-05, 03:57:26 [UTC] Ref.no.: FF-20100305-25206-KEN Situation Update No. 1 On 2010-03-05 at 18:59:07 [UTC] Event: Flash Flood Location: Kenya Province of Rift Valley Samburu National Park Number of Deads: 6 person(s) Number of Missing: 12 person(s) Number of Evacuated: 17 person(s) Situation: Floods in Kenya have killed at least six people and left dozens missing, also washing away entire herds of cattle, police and the Red Cross said Friday. The torrential rains across several parts of Kenya, including in some of its most visited natural parks, left hundreds of people homeless and required helicopter evacuations of tourists. "Six people have been killed since yesterday. Three of them were washed away by floods in Nakuru while the three others were killed in Marsabit," a senior police officer said. "Those killed in Marsabit are young children who were washed away as they played in an open field in Dukana area," he added. Kenya Red Cross officials said up to 100 houses remained submerged in the Garbatula region of Eastern Province and nearly 500 people were homeless. "We have received reports of people missing and over 2,000 cattle heads washed away. People have been advised to move to higher grounds because we don't know how soon the rains will go away," the senior police officer said. Another senior police officer said that they had evacuated some 550 tourists from 10 tourist lodges and hotels in the affected areas since Wednesday. "These are tourists who were booked in hotels within Samburu and Isiolo, they are all safe because they have been moved out of the hotels to safety," he added. "They were airlifted to safety by helicopters." Several other regions of eastern Africa, including Tanzania and Somalia, have been hit by torrential rains and floods in recent days. In eastern Uganda, some 300 people are feared dead following a huge mudslide on Monday. Fewer than 90 bodies have so far been retrieved as continued rain complicated the rescue operation. Please DO NOT reply to this message: replies may be treated as errors and result in your subscription being deleted. If you have trouble or other queries, send email to havaria@rsoe.hu RSOE EDIS is operated by the National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE), Budapest, Hungary. Because of the complexity of this system and its dependence on other systems, we cannot be responsible for delays or failures in forwarding or transmission. You're receiving this AlertMail because you subscribed for the service. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Contact: havaria@rsoe.hu