The submerging lakes are another pandemic hitting Kenya
By Jackline Chepkoech
Kenya has lost about 400 people and over 7000 others are displaced as a result of floods and rising lakes. The solai and Turkwel dams are under critical monitoring following the increasing levels that threatens to overflow.
The two dams, according to government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna, has been rising steadily following the on going above normal rainfall in it’s catchment areas around mt Elgon.
Speaking during a briefing of rising lakes in rift valley Oguna said the situation of floods and rising lakes has baffled experts.
“It’s unfortunate that lives have been lost,from March this year 400 people have died of floods and an addition of 6 others have died due to stress and depression after their crops were destroyed by the floods”, Mr Oguna added.
Homes, grazing lands and businesses among others have been submerged by the water leaving many homeless. Lake Baringo has swelled to it’s highest record submerging schools, villages, health clinics and holiday resorts.
“I am 60 years and I have never experienced something like these before” Joseph Lichan Olentutu, Lake Baringo resident says as he gaze at the level with the tops of his once towering accacia trees bopping above the water.
Peering into the lake, another victim of flood tries to spot among the hyacinth and myceinth weeds the land he has lived on his entire life but only the tip of his touched hut is the only thing that remains in his homestead. The land has been altered beyond recognition.
local community members in lake Naivasha are using lines to fish flooding waters after the rising waters of lake Naivasha induated the elevated woodlands of it’s shores along with buildings and infrastructure at the lakeside town of Naivasha. Baringo and the other lakes of Rift valley have risen to heights that has never been witnessed in half a century.The scientist have linked this to climate change.
The tremendous water bodies has for ages been ebbing and flowing supporting life at the banks but now the records shows that the recent one is unlike any witnessed in the recent past. ” It was like the speed of the wind when the water popped up in march” said Joseph who is also preparing to move as the water level is coming nearer.
The crisis shows no easing as reports from forecasters show that more rains are expected this month, which shall cause further inundation.
“I have lived here for more than 70 years and I have never seen it (floods) become this bad,” Robert Murray that deals with restoration of degraded land through Rehabilitation of Arid Environment trust tells The Insider.
Lake Baringo swolled 70 kilometers (27 square miles) in 2011 but has risen so high this year ” it has submerged our offices, dispensary including my childhood home together with a family business,” Murray says.
A monitoring station run by the Water Resources Authority (WRA), a government agency, indicates the lake rose 2.7 metres (8.9 feet) between April and June, pushing water half a kilometre inland.
“It’s been phenomenal,” said Guy Erskine, as hippos wallowed in his submerged hotel at Sanctuary Farm, a conservancy on Lake Naivasha that has been owned by his family since 1978.
Government scientists are exploring possible causes for the drastic upwelling, including whether silt flushing downstream from deforestation in the highland catchments could be reducing the lakes’ storage capacity.
Research into other theories, such as the influence of seismic activity and increased seepage from underground aquifers, is less conclusive. It is one of the wettest periods in East Africa. The above average temperatures in the Indian Ocean has spurred erratic rainfall, delivering frequent unseasonal downpours over the escarpments and rivers that feed the lakes.
“Things have changed… The effect is more pronounced than 50 years ago,” says Mohamed Shurie, a geologist and CEO of the WRA.The massive inflow is also upsetting a delicate ecological balance in a biodiverse region famous for attracting masses of pink flamingos.
The government is particularly concerned about the repercussions should saltwater from an ever-expanding Lake Bogoria, a flamingo refuge and wetland of international importance, merge with the freshwaters from Baringo 20 kilometres to the north.
Two other critical habitats frequented by the migratory birds, Lake Elementaita and Lake Nakuru, are also brimming, the latter at a 50-year high.
The imposing entrance gate to Lake Nakuru National Park, one of Kenya’s premier safari destinations, barely pokes above the water, which has pushed one kilometre beyond the perimeter fence, flooding nearby villages.
On an island in Baringo, a number of Rothschild’s giraffe we’re relocated last month to the mainland after their habitat shrunk from about 100 acres to less than 10.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Northern Rangelands Trust have already rescued Warthogs, Impala and Ostriches.
KWS Baringo warden, Jackson Komen, said conflict between humans and animals was rising, with hippos marching into vegetable patches and several ostriches turning up dead.
“Our fear is, when there’s not enough food in the homestead, people might turn to the vulnerable animals,” Komen said.
In Naivasha, a tourist hotspot popular with weekenders from Nairobi, is becoming hard to operate. The staff and the workers of the tourist hotel who were stopped when Coronavirus hit the country have lost their jobs due to the crisis and their homes have also been submerged by the water.
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