NAIROBI, March 7, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - At least 23 people were killed in flash 
flooding overnight in Nairobi, police said Saturday, amid search and rescue 
operations and widespread devastation.

Torrential rains lashed the Kenyan capital late Friday, turning major streets 
into rivers and flooding thousands of homes and businesses.

Rescue teams were still pulling out bodies and rescuing trapped residents on 
Saturday, while AFP reporters saw heavily damaged roads and infrastructure 
from the city's vast slums to upmarket areas like Parklands.

"We are seeing devastation... A huge number of areas in the city were 
affected, but also counties all over the country," Kenyan Red Cross spokesman 
Munir Ahmed told AFP.

Police said they had rescued at least 29 people overnight and "remain fully 
deployed, actively responding to distress calls and continuing with search 
and rescue missions".

Multiple studies have tracked the increasing frequency of extreme wet and dry 
periods in East Africa in the last 20 years, including one on rainfall 
variability published by Scientific Reports in 2024.

AFP reported on emergency-level drought in northeastern Mandera county last 
month that had killed large numbers of livestock.

Neighbouring countries like Somalia and Ethiopia are also affected.

Following Friday's rains, there was anger online at Nairobi governor Johnson 
Sakaja, who had vowed to deal with drainage and road infrastructure when he 
took office in 2022.

"Sakaja should be in jail not in office," said well-known activist Nelson 
Amenya on X.

"There's no storm water drainage system... I haven't seen any active flood 
management or even preparation for it by the county of Nairobi," he said.

"Yesterday's flood situation was an indictment," added Nairobi opposition 
senator Edwin Sifuna on X. "We need a comprehensive review of how the city 
drains because the piecemeal interventions are not working."

Kenya Airways said they had been forced to divert several flights away from 
Nairobi to Mombasa due to the rains.

The Kenyan Red Cross said hundreds of households in neighbouring counties had 
also been affected, and vast swathes of farmland destroyed.

"I would call for joint efforts between the government humanitarian agncies 
to deal with this problem, and to understand why we are having this havoc," 
said Ahmed of the Red Cross.