A major humanitarian crisis has struck Tarasaa and Tana Delta Sub-Counties in Tana River County, where floods have displaced over 3,127 families, leaving them homeless, without food, and lacking access to healthcare.
For the past month, several villages have been marooned, with some schools and health facilities submerged.
Tarasaa Sub-County is the worst-hit area, with villages such as Samicha, Odhole, Mwanja, and Handaraku completely cut off, severely disrupting daily economic activities.
The situation is similar in Tana Delta, where families have been forced to abandon their homes as properties and farmlands were swept away by floodwaters.
Learning activities and health services have also been disrupted due to marooned facilities, forcing residents to relocate to internally displaced persons (IDP) camps on safer ground.
Journalists accompanying the Kenya Red Cross on a monitoring and evaluation exercise witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of the disaster.
Most affected areas are inaccessible by road, necessitating the use of boats by the Kenya Red Cross to reach marooned villages.
Samicha Village, adjacent to Odhole village, is completely inaccessible. Its residents have moved to the
Marafa IDP camp, and the Early Childhood Development (ECD) school remains shut due to the absence of learners.
In Odhole, half of the residents have relocated to IDP camps with their families, affecting over 85 per cent of learners who accompanied their parents to safer zones and are unable to attend school.
Officials from the Kenya Red Cross Society stated that they have provided non-food items to the affected population but emphasised the dire need for food and health services.
Anthony Muchiri, the Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager at the Kenya Red Cross Society, who led the disaster response team in monitoring the affected areas in Tana Delta and Tarasaa Sub-Counties, confirmed that 3,127 families have been displaced by the floods and are currently residing in IDP camps.
Speaking in Odhole, he reported that 17 health facilities are marooned and non-operational, and several schools are also cut off, preventing children from attending classes.
“As Kenya Red Cross Society, together with the county government and other agencies, we have been able to support 2,700 families with emergency shelter materials; the same number of families have also been targeted with wash materials and a number of IDP camps set up,” he stated.
Muchiri added that 71 latrines were set up in collaboration with the Water department, and monitoring of interventions continues since the floods first hit the area on 17 April this year.
Issa Komoro, Chief of Konemasa Location in Tarasaa Sub-County, noted that Samicha village alone has 103 households, Odhole 300 households, and Mwanja.
“The entire Samicha village is marooned. Fortunately, residents were sensitised and moved to Marafa IDP camp, which now hosts over 500 displaced households,” he said.
He appealed to the government and other humanitarian agencies to intervene and provide relief food to the affected victims, as they have lost everything in the floods.
Omar Maro Diwayu, the headman of Kijo farm IDP camp in Tana Delta, reported that 113 displaced households received non-food items from the Kenya Red Cross but still lack food.
He explained that the floods destroyed all their crops, which were nearing maturity, leaving them with no means of survival.
“The problem is you can sleep inside a shelter and feel good, but if you have nothing to eat, you will never get sleep because we lost everything as a result of the floods,” he lamented.
Idi Jarso Wario, a flood victim from Handaraku in Tarasaa Sub-County, expressed their suffering, stating that all access routes are flooded, preventing them from reaching their homes and even grazing areas.
Madina Abdalla, a flood victim from Wario, said the floods have displaced them, leaving them without food, shelter, and clean water.
“We have no food; we are hungry; there is nothing at all. We ask the government to intervene and help us,” she pleaded.
Sultan Hero, a flood victim from Bula Rahma, now camping with other IDPs at Kijo farm, acknowledged assistance from the Kenya Red Cross Society but reiterated their ongoing need for food.
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