Over 20 families in Marigat, Baringo South are trying to pick up pieces after heavy rains in the region accompanied by strong winds left several houses roofless.
Jane Kiptum, a resident, stands 50 meters away from her home as she gazes at her roofless house. Her daughter is trying to salvage pieces of clothing as she hangs them on a temporary hanging line to allow them dry. The situation inside her house is pathetic, with everything submerged after strong winds and floods were witnessed in the region.
She explains how she was forced to trek 5 kilometers at night with her three children to their relatives who live on higher grounds. They traveled the long distance to secure a place to lay their heads as the rains had ruined their home.
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"We had to trek 5 kilometers to get to my relatives' house to stay throughout the night. I wonder where to start. Everything in the house has now been submerged in the floods, and we have nothing left. All we can do now is to try to salvage the remnants and sort them out as we await to get help from the relevant authorities," she said.
Kiptum told K24 Digital they were lucky to all survive as no one was in the house during the incident. However, she regretted that everything happened so fast that nothing could be salvaged in time.
"We have lost to the floods a lot of groceries, market stalls, money, and other stocks that we had displayed ready to gather money for daily uses. The rains began, followed by hailstones, then strong winds brought about destruction in the marketplace and left us homeless. I am a group chair of a local investment group. I lost the group book and some money," another resident lamented.
She urged the government to come to their aid to start over and make life bearable for them, saying that the stock they lost was gathered through loans, adding that the relevant authorities install canals and enough culverts to drain raging water soon.
The county Deputy governor Charles Kipng'ok, the area Member of County Assembly (MCA) Nickson Lemlem, and relevant authorities visited the flood-prone area to ascertain the damages and promised to put things in order swiftly to allow residents to get back to their businesses.
Kipng'ok assured the residents that power would be restored over the day, adding that they had communicated with the (KPLC) following the power outage after falling trees tampered with the power posts.
"We want to assure our people that in the future. Our county government will continue to partner with World Vision, Red Cross, and other NGOs to build a resilient flood program involving tree planting and other soil conservation techniques. Through this, we will be able to do away with gully erosion in the area," he noted.
Also promised to work on an integrated urban development plan that would ensure land use, special, and investment plan at the municipal level that will help Marigat town and other flood-prone areas be in a better shape to face future occurrences.
Lemlem noted that the county was all set in opening drainages and building gabions in the affected region, saying that it would go a long way in addressing future flood impacts.
