Rev Timothy Njoya counts losses after floods wreck Ngong home

As many Kenyans celebrate the start of the rainy season after a prolonged dry spell in the country, residents of Zambia estate in Ngong, Kajiado County, are in tears.

When the first raindrops began hitting their roofs at about 11pm Wednesday night, most residents paid little attention. But just hours later, calm was replaced by deep concern after one resident, retired Reverend Timothy Njoya, alerted the local residents association WhatsApp group of the havoc in his home. 

"1:30am and water has overflowed into our house. We are busy removing books from lower shelves, carpets and items from the lower floor to the upper floor. This is the second time for water to get into our house. Yours in Christ, Rev Timothy Njoya," he said.

He said that by mid-morning, he had lost books worth Sh1.4 million, most of which he imported from different universities across the world. 

"All the books that were in the lower shelves of this library are now useless. I have lost so much knowledge and content on the history of politics in Kenya, China, Russia, South Africa, US and several other countries. When I lose a single book, my brain shrinks because I always refer to these books whenever I'm giving lectures," he said. 

"Losing these books makes me feel like the younger generation will miss critical information on masculinity and gender equality. This is really bad," he added. 

Torrents of messages followed with many others saying they were experiencing the same. 

When Nation.Africa visited the estate on Thursday, several houses were flooded while some were filled with raw sewage carried from the overflowing Ngong River that is just metres away. 

Most residents agree that a faulty culvert passing over the perennially dry river along Zambia Road is mostly to blame. 

With the unprecedented amount of rainfall last night and even more on Thursday afternoon, the river, whose depth is usually just a few feet, is now swollen and appears filled to the brim.

Garbage washing up

Another unforeseen consequence of the flooding is garbage washing up to people's homesteads. With the increased volumes, the water is also carrying with it debris and garbage from upstream and dumping it near Zambia estate. But some of this garbage is blocking the flow of water and at some point, finding no way to pass, the water is rushing back into people's homes. 

The situation has forced many like Rev Njoya to carry whatever they can from the ground floor and take cover in their upper rooms.  

Dressed in a blue floral shirt, grey trousers and black gumboots, Rev Njoya told Nation.Africa that he had gone without sleep for more than 14 hours by Thursday afternoon. The team caught up with him at the Zambia bridge as he was directing some youth on how to remove the debris that the river has washed up. 

"I'm very tired but I cannot go back to the house until the debris blocking the space beneath this bridge is taken away and the river's water can pass, then the water in our homes recedes," he said.