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The partner states of the East African Community are sitting on a time bomb as floods wreak havoc in the region.
The floods killed 200 in Kenya, displaced 10,000 people and more than 65 reported deaths in Rwanda on Friday, as a second wave of locusts is expected to hit Kenya next month, threatening agriculture and food security in the region. .
This accumulates misery in the 1,519 Covid-19 cases in the region and almost 200 deaths as of May 7, 2020.
But it is the floods that are killing more people and destroying farmland, raising fears of food insecurity and affecting the most vulnerable who are already dealing with the effects of the Coronavirus and poverty.
Last week, the EAC Lake Victoria Commission Executive Secretary, Ally-Said Matano, warned people living in low-lying areas around Lake Victoria in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to move to higher lands as they the lake basin experiences unprecedented water levels. This has caused massive flooding in the lake region.
In Kenya, Energy CS Charles Keter warned at a press conference in Nairobi on Wednesday that; “The Masinga dam has reached its maximum capacity. We warn those who live along the Tana River, those in the downstream counties of Garissa and Tana, to stay away from the river. “
Heavy rains
According to the Kenya Department of Metrology, heavy rains are expected to continue until the end of May, with parts of the west, Mount Kenya, the northeast and the Rift Valley under surveillance.
“The situation is serious. The reservoir in Masinga as of this morning has reached historical figures of 1,057.86 meters above sea level. The maximum deposit is 1,056 … it’s a serious problem, “said Energy CS.
Kenya’s Interior Minister, CS Dr. Fred Matiangi, issued a warning: “As of this morning, Wednesday May 6, we have raised the alarm regarding flooding in the country. We have no choice, but we will begin to forcefully remove people. It is better that we talk to you when you are still alive than when you are dead, ”he said.
Meanwhile, Kenya is expanding lobster surveillance in the northeast parts of the country, amid fears of a second wave of invasion later this month.
According to a joint team of national and county governments collaborating with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leading the fight, the next phase of the war on locusts will be largely won if weather conditions, such as wind directions and country The ability to track and spray will be done diligently.
Every day, the surveillance team of National Youth Service scouts and trained community volunteers go out to collect and transmit data using the 3M e-locust smartphone app.
The data will be transmitted to the National Locust Center, FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, as well as to the six command bases that have been established in the region to coordinate training and surveillance activities.
“This war will probably last until the end of May and June, the last July. But that will depend on whether we will have new invasions, “said Professor Hamadi Boga, of Crop Development and Agricultural Research in the country.
Earlier this month, FAO had warned that locusts could further devastate the region in June, in an invasion that would be 20 times greater than the first.
