Eleven people and a dog were rescued from the raging flood waters in Kenya on Wednesday, the country’s Red Cross has said.
The rescue happened at around 5 a.m. local time as the Red Cross team helped families to safety amid torrential downpours in Kitengela, Kajiado County, located south of the capital Nairobi.
The humanitarian agency described the rescue mission as “challenging” but later offered a glimmer of hope with reports that floodwaters were gradually receding.
However, more rains are forecasted this month, according to government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura, who warned that “heavy rainfall in specific areas threatens to exacerbate ongoing floods.”
Heavy flooding in Mai Mahiu, 20 miles north of Nairobi, earlier in the week killed at least 71 people and dozens remain missing.
In the last 24 hours, 10 Kenyans have died from the flooding, bringing the government’s official death toll up to 179, including 15 children.
Residents in Mai Mahiu are frantically sifting through heaps of debris to recover bodies trapped by the floods.
When CNN visited the town on Tuesday, corpses could be seen accumulating beneath toppled trees and layers of mud.
A phone could be heard buzzing underground, and locals quickly shifted their efforts to find the source of the noise before eventually pulling out the owner’s lifeless body from the flood debris.
The residents, mostly neighbors and relatives of those missing, dug through the mud with their bare hands.
They had little equipment and resources but banded together to help in whatever way they could. One resident, a motorbike taxi rider who did not wish to be named, told CNN that he had provided fuel for a power saw used to cut down uprooted trees.
“Ask the government to send us excavators,” the man said.
Facing mounting criticism, Kenyan President William Ruto said Tuesday that he’s ordered the military to deploy personnel to help find missing people.
“The military has been mobilized, the National Youth Service has been mobilized, all security agencies have been mobilized to assist citizens in such areas to evacuate to avoid any dangers of loss of life,” Ruto added.
“It is not a time for guesswork, we are better off safe than sorry,” he added.
Evacuation from flood hit areas
Citizens in the worst affected areas have been ordered to leave due to fears of more rain.
“We are asking every Kenyan in such areas to leave because the forecast is that rain is going to continue and the likelihood of flooding and people losing lives is real,” Ruto said when visiting Mai Mahiu Tuesday.
Ruto added that the government has completed “mapping of all areas that are in danger of flooding, of mudslides so that we can assist citizens to move away from those areas.”
Mwaura also said Tuesday the government has set up 52 “displacement camps,” to provide those affected by the flooding with temporary accommodation.