Floods
A gloomy mood engulfed Kisaku village, Rang’wa East Location, Kaksingri West Location in Suba South after two young brothers and a middle-aged woman were killed by a landslide.
The two brothers who perished were identified as Calvince Otieno,12, and 5-year-old Moses Otieno. Their parents are Silvance Otieno and Benta Otieno.The third victim was identified as 42-year-old Alice Orutha.
The bodies were moved to Sindo Sub- County hospital mortuary. Suba South legislator Caroli Omondi who toured the area yesterday condoled with the affected families. The Monday tragedy brings the death toll from floods in Suba South to four as earlier the body of a seven-year-old girl Florence Evidon Otieno had been recovered.
The brother’s father Sylvance Otieno was rescued in a critical condition. According to his wife Benta, the floods and the landslide cornered the three in the house yesterday while she was away.
She said the deluge swept their house with the occupants downstream killing the minors while their father survived by a whisker adding he was rescued some meters away from his house in a critical condition and rushed to a local hospital.
The mother of nine lamented that she had also lost all property she had in her house. “I am appealing to the government to come to my aid. This disaster has left me distraught,” she urged.
Suba Deputy County Commissioner Sebastian Okiring also toured the scene of the landslide and condoled the bereaved families. He said the government had arranged for treatment of the people who were injured in the incident. Okiring said their preliminary reports indicated that more than 900 people had been affected by the incident.
He said he made arrangements with various government agencies to intervene with humanitarian aid to support the affected families.
The area MP Caroli Omondi said his office in collaboration with the national government and county government were committed to supporting the affected persons. He called on department of geology to assess the scene to unravel the reasons behind the landslide. “I urge geologists to come here and help us know what caused this serious landslide,” Omondi stressed.
He said the national government had given out 150 mattresses and 20 bales of food stuff for distribution to the affected families.