In the dead of a rainy Saturday night, roaring sounds reverberated through the hills of Chesongoch, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, rousing villagers from their slumber.
Before anyone could grasp the source, the ground beneath them began to tremble and shift violently, as if the earth itself was alive and angry.
Homes collapsed in an instant, swallowed along with families, as unforgiving landslides tore through four villages, sending mud and enormous boulders hurtling down the slopes.
Huge rocks, some as large as cars, now litter the landscape across Kasegei, Kaptul, Kwemoi, and Kipkiron villages, silent witnesses to the disaster’s fury. The villages are now in a state of mourning.
Massive rocks at a homestead in Kipkenda village, Keiyo North of Elgeyo Marakwet County on November 3, 2025. A woman and her grandson died in the November 2 mudslide.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
Sixty-four-year-old John Khurah was at his house about four kilometres from his mother’s in Kesgei village, where the rest of his relatives had gathered for a family meeting that was scheduled to happen the next day.
He recalls hearing a terrifying, deafening sound, like a plane landing. Rushing outside, he was met with screams and chaos coming from his mother’s compound. By the time he reached the compound, it had been flattened, transformed into a scene he says resembled a quarry.
In a single night, he lost 11 relatives, his mother, two daughters, an uncle, a brother, four cousins, and two grandchildren.
“I have never witnessed what I saw until now; it is still like a nightmare. It will take time for me to recover from what I have witnessed,” he said, his voice trembling.
The compound where his family had gathered was reduced to rubble, buried under mud and boulders, leaving him grappling with the scale of the loss.
“I don’t know what sin my family has committed to deserve this. My prayer now is for my daughter, who lost her left arm and is sitting for her KCSE at MTRH in Eldoret, to survive and become my living testimony,” he whispered, his voice trembling.
The agony of losing family members was equally evident in the voice of 68-year-old Raymond Kanda as he recounted the tragic loss of his loved ones in the Chesongoch mudslide.
Massive rocks at a space where a house used to be at a home in Kipkenda village, Keiyo North of Elgeyo Marakwet County on November 3, 2025, where a woman and her grandson died following a mudslide on Sunday night.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya Nation Media Group
“The thunderous sound that shook the earth still echoes in my mind. It was like a plane crashing into our village, but it was the mudslide that swallowed my entire family members,” said the elderly Mr Kanda as tears and mucus rolled down freely.
His voice cracked as he spoke about losing his brother, sister-in-law, and their young son. Six other family members are still missing, and the uncertainty is unbearable.
“I keep wondering what's next. The pain is indescribable. I have lost pieces of my family, and I am left with memories of what could have been,” he said, his words laced with despair.
“I keep thinking about what I could have done differently. But the truth is, it was a disaster beyond our control,” he says, his eyes cast downward.
Also mourning a devastating loss is Ms Selina Krop, who lost five loved ones, including her husband, her son, and three grandchildren. She narrowly escaped because she had spent the previous night at a friend’s house after a meeting.
A rider is helped to push his motorcycle through heavy sludge in Keiyo North, Elgeyo Marakwet County on November 3, 2025.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“My life has no meaning now. All my lineage is gone. I have nothing left,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
By the close of Monday, the death toll had risen to 30 after four more bodies were recovered from the debris. Another 26 are still missing, and 26 have been hospitalised, according to Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
Among the dead are 14 learners, according to Principal Secretary for Education Julius Bitok.
From Kwenoi village, Mr Evans Suter, a local resident, narrowly escaped the disaster but lost six relatives, including two adults and a minor.
“It was like a nightmare,” he recounted.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya I Nation Media Group
“I was awoken by a thunderous sound, similar to a helicopter landing. Before I could comprehend what was happening, the mudslide swept through our homes, taking my loved ones,” he said, his voice trembling as he narrated how he lost his three relatives, including a minor and two cousins aged between 25 and 28 years.
Mr Dismus Kipchebet, another affected resident, lost six family members, including his father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, a sister, and her co-wife, while their son is still missing.
“This tragedy has left our village in shock. We need psychosocial counselling and humanitarian aid to cope with the loss,” he said, his eyes welling up with tears.
Locals at Chesongoch in Kerio Valley, Elgeyo Marakwet County, carry the body of one of the victims killed in the Friday night mudslide tragedy.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group.
Meanwhile, in Kipkenda village, Keiyo North, a grandmother and her grandson were killed in a mudslide that struck their home as they were having dinner on Sunday night.
The deadly mudslide buried the 57-year-old Albina Kosgei and her Grade Five grandson under a cascade of rocks and soil. The tragic incident unfolded at around 8pm during a torrential downpour in Emsoo Ward when massive boulders rolled downhill, crushing the victims in their kitchen where they were having their evening meal.
The mudslide, which came without warning, has left the community in deep shock. The woman’s husband, Mzee Joseph Chemwemo, and a young child narrowly survived the tragedy, which occurred amid heavy rains in the area.
Joseph Chemwemo whose wife and a granddaughter were killed by mudslides at Kipkenda village in Keiyo North, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group.
Recalling the harrowing moment, he said: “I heard a strange sound while they were having supper. In the blink of an eye, my wife and grandson were trapped beneath huge rocks that had rolled downhill. Efforts to rescue them were futile.”
Local authorities and emergency teams arrived at the scene to assess the damage and provide assistance, and urged residents to move to safer grounds amid the ongoing heavy rains in the region.
Back at Chesongoch in Marakwet East, Murkutwo market, once bustling with life, now lies in ruins, a haunting reminder of the disaster's devastating impact.
“It is like a ghost town. The laughter, the chatter, the vibrant market, all gone, swept away by the mudslide,” said Alfred Okinga, a mechanic who owned a shop at the market. His workshop, where he spent countless hours fixing cars and machinery, is now a pile of rubble.
“I lost everything,” he said, shaking his head. “Tools, equipment, everything. I don't know how I'll recover them.”
Traders at the market, which was once a vibrant hub of activity, with stalls bursting with fresh produce, clothing, and household goods, are yet to digest what happened, as their market is now a sea of mud and debris.
We found Ms Maureen Murkomen, a resident who used to live at the market centre, wading through the debris, her eyes scanning for any sign of her lost belongings, more like someone searching for a needle in sand.
Massive rocks at a homestead in Kipkenda village, Keiyo North of Elgeyo Marakwet County on November 3, 2025.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya I Nation Media Group
“I have been scavenging here since morning, hoping to recover something, anything, of mine,” she said, her voice laced with desperation.
The market's former stalls, now reduced to fractured wood and twisted metal, seemed to mock her search. She paused, her eyes welling up with tears, as she spotted a fragment of a familiar cloth caught in a twisted metal beam.
“That was my daughter's dress,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
The tragedy has put the government and related authorities on the spot over disaster preparedness and mitigation measures, as it emerged that warnings of potential landslides in Chesongoch and the larger Elgeyo-Marakwet County have long been ignored.
The hills of Elgeyo-Marakwet have long been prone to landslides, and the mudslide that swept through Chesongoch last weekend exposed the vulnerability of communities living on steep slopes.
Researchers and weather experts had long warned and predicted such tragedies in the wake of a combination of destructive human activities, such as deforestation and farming on vulnerable terrains.
As the death toll rises, the villages are now in a state of mourning, with residents appealing to the government to relocate them to prevent future calamities.
“We can no longer continue to live in this area, which is prone to such disasters,” another affected resident said.
