Heavy rains in Kenya have claimed 18 lives over the past week, with most deaths attributed to drowning, police reported on Sunday.
More than 54,000 households have been affected across the country, including 6,000 in the capital Nairobi, according to the Interior Ministry. Dozens of schools and hospitals have flooded, and 17 roads are impassable.
Thousands have been forced to relocate from the western Rift Valley due to mudslides, while residents downstream of the Tana and Athi rivers were advised to move to higher ground amid rising water levels in hydroelectric dams.
Enhanced rainfall is forecast to continue into early May, the Kenya Meteorological Department warned. The heavy rains began in March at the start of the rainy season, and by the end of that month more than 100 people had died.
