Kenya dam bursts, killing 45, death toll expected to rise: ‘don’t know how many under the mud’
- The disaster raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season in Kenya to more than 120 as heavier than usual rainfall pounds East Africa
- Kenya’s education ministry on Monday postponed the start of a new school term untilMay 6
At least 45 people died when a dam burst its banks near a town in Kenya’s Rift Valley, police said on Monday, as torrential rains and floods battered the country.
The disaster raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season in Kenya to more than 120 as heavier than usual rainfall pounds East Africa, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.
Residents said the accident occurred in the dead of night near Mai Mahiu, in Nakuru county, sending water gushing down a hill and engulfing everything in its path.
The deluge cut off a road, uprooted trees, washed away homes and sent vehicles flying. “Forty-Five bodies have been recovered from that dam tragedy as at now, and the team on the ground is overwhelmed, but the search is still ongoing,” a senior officer at Nakuru County police headquarters told AFP by phone.
Nakuru governor Susan Kihika had earlier put the death toll at 42.
“It’s a conservative estimate. There are still more in the mud, we are working on recovery,” she said.