On Monday morning in the Mai Mahiu area, in western Kenya and just under two hours’ drive from the capital Nairobi, a dam collapsed. A large mass of water overwhelmed the towns downstream, killing at least 45 people, uprooting trees and destroying buildings. According to the local Red Cross, there are dozens of people missing and others stranded in their vehicles after the water reached one of the country’s busiest highways. Kenya’s Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki has ordered the inspection of all public and private dams and water reservoirs within twenty-four hours starting Monday afternoon, to prevent further collapses.
For days in that area of Kenya there have been heavy floods due to particularly intense rains, which began in mid-March. In recent weeks in Kenya alone, almost 100 people have died and more than 20 thousand have been displaced due to the floods, while at least another 155 have died for the same reason in neighboring Tanzania.