OCHA Situation Report No. 4
Kenya: Floods
01 December 2006


I - SITUATION

1. The current floods crisis is increasing in scale with the number of 
affected populations rising from the initial figure of 300,000 to nearly 
700,000. The heavy rains expected for the week of 27 November 
materialized in many parts of the country. In particular in the 
North-eastern Province, rains resumed on 30 November in the districts of 
Garissa, Tana River, Mandera and Wajir.

2. WFP's assessed caseload is estimated at 563,000 persons affected in 8 
districts and of these, 11,000 have been displaced.  In addition, 
100,000 refugees out of a total caseload of 167,000 refugees are 
affected by the floods in the Dadaab refugee camps.

3. Access: The floods continue to hamper access, thereby limiting 
assistance to affected populations. Supplementary feeding and food 
distribution programmes are severely affected by atrocious roads 
conditions, particularly in the northeastern part of the country.

4. The Office of the President confirmed that floodwaters were released 
at the Kiambere dam on the Tana River at the beginning of the week. It 
is understood that the floodwaters are only 2 metres below the lip of 
the main dam at Massinga.

5. The health, water and sanitation environment continues to be of 
serious concern, due to many water systems being washed away. Water is 
becoming contaminated through collapsed drainage systems and destroyed 
latrines, thereby increasing the risk of cholera and diarrhoea. The 
Ministry of Health has issued a cholera alert, reporting cases in Kwale 
(155 suspected cases, 12 confirmed and 3 deaths), Mombasa (131 suspected 
cases, 14 confirmed and 1 death) and Moyale (52 suspected cases, 2 
confirmed and 2 deaths).

6. The Kenya Red Cross reported a 140% occupancy rate at the paediatric 
ward at Garissa Hospital and that 2 children had died of diarrhoea on 28 
November. The worsening incidence of diarrhoea is compounded by the high 
levels of Global Acute Malnutrition in northeastern Kenya.

7. UNICEF have stated that the disruption of commercial food 
distributions and the constraints on food aid deliveries will lead to a 
sharp rise in market prices in the flood-affected districts of eastern 
Kenya. Food inflation may rise to 40-50%.

II - NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

A - OVERALL UPDATE ON RESPONSE

Distribution and pre-positioning of relief items

8. The Kenya Red Cross has sent relief items (non-food items, such as 
plastic sheeting blankets) to various flood-affected areas including 
Tana River and Garissa districts. Pre-Positioning of stocks is also 
taking place in Eldoret (Rift Valley Province), Kisumu (Nyanza 
Province), and Mombasa (Coast Province).

9. Procurement of non-food items for 10,000 families is being made from 
the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 
whilst the ICRC has donated non-food items for 2,000 families to replace 
stocks used in the areas of Kuresoi and Mathare that were affected by 
the clashes of the past months.

10. A distribution plan has been developed by UNICEF for emergency 
supplies (mainly non-food items and health kits) for Nyanza, Coast, 
Eastern and North-eastern Provinces, including Dadaab refugee camps. The 
plan also looks at the identification of storage space to enhance 
preparedness and response.

Food distributions

11. According to WFP, of their identified caseload of 563,000 affected 
people, 339,000 are already beneficiaries under the drought Emergency 
Operation (EMOP).

Logistics

12. Four helicopters arrived in Nairobi on 24 November. At least two of 
the helicopters are awaiting clearance from the Kenya Aviation 
Authorities and will be used by WFP to carry out food airdrops in 
identified areas in the worst affected districts of Garissa and Tana 
River. Two other helicopters will be used in Somalia.

13. ICRC has offered to the Kenya Red Cross the use of trucks with two 
of them already dispatched to Garsen and Kisumu. In addition, two 
logisticians from ICRC will be assisting at the Kenya Red Cross 
headquarters and in Garissa.

Infrastructure repairs

14. A coordination meeting was held on 27 November at the Ministry of 
Public Works to discuss access to affected rural roads. WFP, OCHA and 
the Kenya Red Cross attended the meeting. The Ministry of Works will 
place construction equipment in the northeast to start improving road 
access.

Public health information campaign

15.Public information officers (PIO) from the Office of the President 
(OP), the National Operations Centre (NOC), Save the Children UK, Kenyan 
Red Cross Society (KRCS), IFRC, and UN agencies (OCHA, UNICEF, WHO, FAO) 
met on 28 November to coordinate emergency health messages and public 
outreach and discuss how best to disseminate this information to flood 
affected people as well as to initiate preparations for a combined 
donor/media briefing on the situation.

16. UNICEF reported that they are working with the national broadcaster 
KBC and the TV/Radio channel Citizen (both have country-wide coverage), 
the private radio stations Frontier FM, Star, and IQRA as well as BBC 
Somali service (coverage of the affected eastern regions) on broadcasts 
of health and other pertinent messages. UNICEF collaborates with a Task 
Force in the Ministry of Health, which is to prepare the messages. 
Diffusion has not yet begun. UNICEF has also set aside funds for 10 
vehicles to be used in on-the-ground message delivery.

17. The Kenya Red Cross is working with KBC, Star radio, and Frontier FM 
on messages in Kiswahili, Somali, and English. IFRC noted that it is 
when people begin returning to their homes that epidemics are most 
likely and health messages important.

Coordination

18. Daily inter-agency emergency technical team and task force meetings 
are taking place at the UNHCR Conference room at the Dadaab camp.

19. OCHA and FAO are working in collaboration to upload as much 
humanitarian information of the Kenya Food Security Website ( 
www.kenyafoodsecurity.org).

Funding

20. A private telephone company Safaricom operating in Kenya has pledged 
Ksh. 5 million for the flood response to be disbursed to the Kenya Red 
Cross.

21. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 
(IFRC) has released CHF 400,000 from the Disaster Response Emergency 
Fund (DREF) to support the Kenya Red Cross' distributions of non-food 
items and emergency medical kits from WHO.

B - RESPONSE PER PROVINCE/ DISTRICT

North-eastern Province

22. In the nutrition sector, UNICEF has pre-positioned supplementary 
food and therapeutic treatment supplies in Garissa for delivery 
throughout North-eastern Province (Garissa town, Wajir, Mandera and 
Dadaab).

23. As at the week ending 24 November, UNICEF has delivered emergency 
health kits, three each to of Garissa, Mandera and Wajir districts, as 
well as Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) sachets (over 30 cartons of 1,000 
each to both Mandera and Wajir districts).

24. Discussions with the Ministry of Health focused on support for the 
airlifting of emergency rapid response kits to Mandera, Wajir, Ijara and 
Moyale. The kits have been stuck in Garissa due to the floods.

25. Garissa District

a) Access: A few households from Shant-Abak village, which is one of the 
marooned areas in Garissa, are now using donkeys to obtain supplies from 
Modogashe urban centre.

b) Food Distributions: Food distributions have begun in Sankulu 
division, in Danyere and Balambala regions of Garissa district. Jarajila 
and St. Habert divisions are expected to be included soon in the 
operation. The Kenya Red Cross Garissa branch has received food 
contributions from WFP (18.72 tons of nutritious biscuits) and from the 
Municipal Council (150 bags of Ugali flour). The branch now faces a 
problem of storage space.

c) Health: An outbreak of diarrhoea and malaria has been reported by the 
Kenya Red Cross in Garissa district. As of 26 November, at least 60 
children had been admitted in hospital. As of 24 November, screening of 
children from displaced families in Garissa showed that 21% were 
moderately malnourished and 2.5% severely malnourished.

26. Dadaab refugee camps:

a) UNHCR has indicated that subject to good weather conditions, they 
will be able to dispatch a team on 28 November to transport refugees 
from Liboi refugee reception centre - along the Kenya-Somalia border - 
to Dadaab camps. A team comprising of UNHCR, MSF and GTZ visited Liboi 
centre and reported that approximately 400 refugees are at the reception 
centre awaiting transfer to the Dadaab camps.

b) An assessment team comprised of engineers and logisticians from 
UNHCR, WFP and CARE carried out an assessment to evaluate the cost of 
relocating the current flood-affected part of Ifo camp to a new site, 
which would be called Ifo-2 camp. The team reported that the total cost 
of such an operation would amount to between US$ 1.7 million - US$ 2 
million. The team has recommended the relocation of the CARE compound, 
which houses WFP Extended Delivery Points (EDPs) and Final Distribution 
Points (FDP). The cost for this operation is yet to be established.

c) A 7-day food ration general distribution for flood-affected refugees 
is continuing in the Ifo and Hagadera camps. UNHCR is considering 
increasing their support to the refugees through provision of 
complementary food to help address malnutrition in the camps.

d) UNICEF delivered 75 cartons/1,000 sachets of ORS and 40,000 
long-lasting insecticide treated nets were delivered to the UNHCR 
warehouse for distribution in the refugee camps.

e) WatSan Infrastructure: The refugee population in the three camps in 
Dadaab is facing increasingly difficult living conditions as houses and 
pit latrines continue to collapse. CARE is carrying out backfilling for 
the collapsed latrines. Construction of new latrines is currently not 
possible due to the soft/waterlogged soils.

27. Wajir

a) In Wajir, UNICEF reports that about 30% of children admitted to the 
therapeutic feeding programmes suffered from diarrhoea.

28. Ijara

a) According to the Kenya Red Cross, nearly 26,000 people have been cut 
off for the past three months at Hulugo near the Somali border. The area 
of Masalani has also been inaccessible for the past 45 days despite 
being only 60km from Garsen.

b)The estimated affected population based on the figures provided by the 
District Commissioner is 75,000 people. The population faces problems 
such as health, food and sanitation.

29. Mandera

a) The Kenya Red Cross reports that floods along the river have subsided 
except in the area of Harere, Rhamu and Rhamu-Dimtu divisions. The major 
problem for the residents includes the washing away of their farms and 
the almost threefold increase in food prices. Roads have also been 
rendered inaccessible.

b) The region along the riverbeds is mosquito infested, thus posing a 
health risk of a malaria outbreak. A number of cases of diarrhoea have 
also been reported.

Eastern Province

30. Marsabit

a) Food distributions are continuing.

31. Mwingi

a) The Kyuso River has broken its banks due to heavy rainfall and two 
persons drowned in the floods. 7 deaths have been reported in Mumoni 
Division. 2 dams in Maguva and Kiiya have been washed away.

32. Meru

a) Three deaths were reported in Tharaka after a bus was submerged in 
floods.

Coast Province

33. Kwale and Kilifi

a) WFP has in the past few days, distributed 280 mt of food to 28,767 
beneficiaries in Kilifi and Kwale districts. About 2,800 persons 
displaced by the floods in Tana River district also received 0.8 mt of 
high-energy biscuits.

b)A few bridges have been repaired in Kwale thereby restoring vital 
links to establishing access to affected populations. A Kenya Red Cross 
team has been operational in this area, providing both food and non-food 
items.

34.Tana River

a) Due to increased water flows from Garissa to Rhoka village, 
populations from the area are now moving out from their farms to higher 
grounds.

b) As of 27 November, the Kenya Red Cross reported that the northern 
regions of Hola, Bura, Mororo and Madogo are accessible from Garissa.

c) Additional assessments indicate that 5 villages camping at Vumbwe 
(263 households) have been served by the Kenya Red Cross. The river 
continues to rise and it is expected that more people will be displaced.

d) In Makini, 163 families have been displaced.

e) Urgent identified needs in the area include latrines, food and 
non-food items. At the Bura irrigation scheme, which is divided into 10 
sections, serious health issues have been identified. The possibility of 
a cholera outbreak remains high. As of 27 November, reports indicate 
that 1,000 people are marooned and displaced and require urgent 
evacuation.

f) As of 27 November, the Kenya Red Cross had dispatched a health and 
WATSAN team to Garissa and Tana River to carry out assessments.

Central Province

35. Meru-south (Mitheru divison)

a) 100 families are displaced. In addition, elephants have invaded the 
area and destroyed food crops. The District Steering Group (DSG) has 
made an appeal for food donations.

Rift Valley Province

36. The two roads connecting Lokichokio - Kakuma - Lodwar road 
(Kalobeiyi and Kawalase) that were previously impassable are now 
reportedly passable by both heavy trucks and 4WD vehicles. Accessibility 
to the Final Distribution Points (FDPs) is now improved and food 
dispatches and distribution is set to resume. The Lodwar-Kitale road is 
impassable following heavy rains lasting 2 days.

37. Keiyo district

a) 200 people are marooned in Ebke sub-location and 40 households are 
cut off in Kaptarakwa sub location

Western Province

38. The districts of Kisumu, Nyando, Homa and Migori have received heavy 
rainfall resulting in 35 households affected. Distribution of relief 
items by the Kenya Red Cross has started.

Nairobi Province

39. The over flow of the Ngong River - that flows through some slum 
settlements - has affected the Kayaba, Masai Village, Hazina, Kisii 
Village and Fuata Nyayo slums in South B. The Kenya Red Cross 
assessments in the affected areas have indicated no displacement in the 
area.

Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34
   Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
   E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers (GVA):
   Mr. Alfred Nabeta
     E-mail: nabeta@un.org
     Direct Tel. +41-22-917 2240
   Mr. Christophe Schmachtel
     E-mail: schmachtel@un.org
     Direct Tel. +41-22-917-1684

Desk Officers (NYC):
   Ms. Olla Hassan
     E-mail: hassano@un.org
     Direct Tel. +1-212-967-4331

Press contact:
  GVA - Ms. Elizabeth Byrs Tel. +41-22-917-2653
  NYC - Ms. Stephanie Bunker, Tel. +1-917-367-5126

OCHA Kenya:
  Mr. Andrew Timpson
    E-mail: timpsona@un.org
    Direct Tel.: +254-20-762-5155

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