Flash floods in Kenyan capital kill 23, disrupt flights

Aid workers pulled bodies from floodwaters in Nairobi after flooding began overnight and killed at least 23 people, washed away dozens of cars and disrupted flights at East Africa’s largest airport, officials said.

Kenyan President William Ruto offered his condolences to affected communities and said he had deployed a team of emergency responders, including soldiers, to coordinate rescue efforts.

“I also ordered that relief food from our national strategic reserves be immediately released and distributed to flood-affected families,” he said on social media.

In the industrial neighborhood of Grogan, 34-year-old security guard John Lomayan looked at the body of an elderly man he knew as a roadside egg seller, trapped under a car that had been swept away when the Nairobi River overflowed its banks.

“I saw the water carrying it from above,” he said, pointing at the road.

“We didn’t know where he was going. Only now do we see him under the car.”

Bus driver John Mwai told how he turned his bus into a rescue vehicle to transport people to higher ground.

Kenya Airways said rains had disrupted flights to Nairobi, forcing some passengers to divert to the coastal city of Mombasa.

A Reuters reporter saw three bodies being pulled from under the cars.

Some of those who died were electrocuted due to damaged power lines.

National provider Kenya Power separately listed 14 neighborhoods affected, saying waters had damaged equipment at a substation.

“There are so many cars, so many things, I don’t know. Everything washed away. All the water… came from that river,” said a shocked Cedric Mwanza, referring to the Nairobi River.