41 dead as Kenya dam bursts after rains

NAIROBI: At least 41 people died after a dam burst in central Kenya, police said Thursday, as residents described muddy waters ripping through their homes in what one survivor called “hell on earth”.

After a severe drought, weeks of torrential rains in Kenya have led to flooding and mudslides that have left 172 dead. The private Patel dam, used for irrigation and fish farming, burst its earthen banks on Wednesday evening in Solai, near the Rift Valley city of Nakuru, regional police chief Gideon Kibunjah told AFP. The raging waters wiped out two villages, a local resident said, while power lines were swept away, leaving many without electricity. The search for victims on Thursday afternoon by heavy rains. “We have 41 people dead from this tragedy,” Kibunjah said, adding 20 of them were children. He said the search for victims was still going on. “It is a disaster because most people were asleep when the tragedy occurred and their houses were swept away.” He said 36 people had been hospitalised.

Survivor Ngugi Njoroge said he and his family had been having dinner when there was a “loud explosion of water that washed away our home.” “I was with my parents and my younger brother. I don’t know where they are. I was carried away by the water but I was lucky as I clung to a tree until the water subsided,” he said from his hospital bed.