Image of Kenyans wading through flood water
The Kenya Meteorological Department (KMT) issued flash floods warnings reported to most likely occur in Western Kenya, Central Rift Valley and Central Highlands.
On Monday, the weatherman gave a report regarding expected weather patterns in the coming months.
“Cases of flooding in flood-prone areas such as Budalangi and Kano areas and also landslides/mudslides in areas such as Murang’a are still probable,” KMT revealed.
As per KMT’s latest reports, the long rains are expected to arrive in most parts of the country during the last week of march going into April.
Central highland areas including Nairobi are expected to experience heavy rainfall from the first week of March, with the end of May the predicted end.
The southern and northern Coastal strips are expected to encounter prolonged rainfall starting during the last week of March and lasting all the way to June 2019.
Counties in the Lake Basin and highlands west of Rift valley are also reportedly set to experience an extended period of rainfall projected to continue until the month of June.
March-April-May (MAM) long rains were expected to start during the first week of March but at week 3, only a few areas within the country experienced showers.
A Cyclone (Idai) which left over 200 people dead across Mozambique and Malawi and affected over 1.5 million people has been highlighted as the key reason for Kenya’s delayed rains.
“Tropical Cyclone known as ‘Idai’ located in the Mozambican Channel for several days has played a key role in delaying the northward movement of the rain-bearing Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ),” stated an excerpt of KMT’s report.
Idai, which has been laying havoc across Mozambique is reported to have greatly reduced moisture influx into Kenya thus directly leading to the continued sunny and dry weather conditions over the better part of the country.