07/09/2026
World Meteorological Organization warns current El Nino phenomenon could be strongest in 40 years, says weather trajectories are 'off the charts' since records began. Warns El Nino rains likely to persist through February 2027
Counties in Western Kenya, the Rift Valley (such as Baringo and West Pokot), the coastal belt, and North Eastern regions like Garissa and Tana River are flagged as top vulnerable zones. Urban centers including Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu are also marked as major flood hotspots
PREPARE NOW before the rains start
1. Fix the roof. Loose sheets, missing nails, rusted ridges, broken tiles.
2. Clear every drain, gutter, culvert and trench you are responsible for. Wear gloves and closed boots.
3. Cut back trees that overhang buildings, power lines or where children play. Large limbs and any tree near a power line:
4. Walk your evacuation route on foot, in daylight, with the whole household or team. Then walk it again at night.
5. Find out your flood history. Ask three neighbours who have lived there 20+ years how high water has come. Mark that line on a wall.
6. Protect your water source. Raise and cover well and borehole heads; check no latrine or animal pen drains toward it.
7. List the people who will need help to move: elderly, pregnant women, infants, people with disabilities, people on daily medication, people living alone. Assign a named helper to each one.
8. Refill 30 days of chronic medicines — blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, ARVs, TB, mental-health medication.
9. Service the vehicle, generator, water pump and boat. Fuel up, Test-run the generator under load.
10. Save your documents digitally. Photograph IDs, title deeds, birth certificates, school and medical records; store copies outside the flood zone.
11. Buy or have ready Raincoats & umbrellas, gumboots, buckets, zip lock bags)
12. Assemble the 72-hour supply kit (clothes in water proof bags, food, drinking water, medications, sanitary needs (soap, toothbrushes & paste, rubber gloves, diapers, pads, toilet paper, wipes)).
13. Fill and seal drinking-water reserves — minimum 3 litres per person per day for 3 days.
14. Buy water-treatment supplies: chlorine tablets or solution, or fuel for boiling.
15. Get a torch and a battery or wind-up radio. Phones die; radio does not.
16. Charge power banks, buy phone credit, and note that mobile money may be your only working payment method — also keep small-denomination cash.
17. Put passports, deeds, certificates, exam slips in a sealed plastic bag or box.
18. Restock the first-aid kit and add ORS sachets and zinc for children.
19. Hang or repair mosquito nets now. Mosquito numbers surge 4–8 weeks after flooding, not during.
20. Set up the communication tree — who calls whom, in what order, and the one out-of-area relative everyone will call if local networks fail.
21. Agree two meeting points: one just outside the house, one outside the neighbourhood on high ground.
22. Livestock: identify the high-ground holding area, arrange fodder, mark or tag animals, agree who moves them.
23. Businesses and schools: decide your closure trigger now, in writing, and tell everyone what it is.
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