28 children among 52 dead in Mai Mahiu floods
Some of those who died in the Mai Mahiu tragedy on April 29, 2024.
The government has revealed that 28 children are among the 52 people who died after flash floods swept through five villages in Mai Mahiu on Monday.
Data shows 11 men and 12 women also died in the deluge, while authorities are yet to establish the gender of a severed head found in the debris that swept through Kamuchira, Jerusalem, Githioro, Georges, and Ruiru villages.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner, Dr Abdi Hassan, on Thursday revealed that 49 people are missing and are yet to be accounted for.
It also emerged yesterday that at least 129 learners, who were victims of the Maai Mahiu tragedy, will not be able to report back to schools when they reopen next week.
"Among the affected learners include 93 pupils and 36 secondary school students," said Dr Abdi.
Meanwhile, the command centre and the tragedy victims camping at Ngeya Girls Secondary School will be relocated to a prayer centre nearby to allow for the school to reopen next week.
Out of the 112 people who were injured in the tragedy, 32 are still recuperating in various hospitals in Nakuru and Kiambu hospitals.
Authorities also sprung to action and drained two water bodies in the Kijabe ridges that have been posing a danger of overflowing, averting another catastrophe downstream.
The exercise was conducted by the military and engineers from the Kenya Railways Corporation, who also inspected the Longonot-Kijabe-Maai Mahiu old metre gauge railway line.
A multi-agency team comprising the military, police, the National Youth Service, and Kenya Red Cross Society volunteers have camped at the scene of the tragedy in attempts to retrieve bodies believed to be buried in the mud and debris.
At the same time, the government has also embarked on repairing key infrastructure destroyed in the tragedy including electricity and water systems, roads, and the railway line among others.
Kenya Railways Corporation revealed that it will take at least three months to reconstruct the damaged section of the railway line at the Kijabe Dark tunnel that was damaged during the Maai Mahiu tragedy.
KRC Managing Director, Philip Mainga, says the giant underpass culvert and the damaged section of the Nairobi-Kisumu Metre Gauge railway line that were swept downstream, will be repaired to allow the resumption of operations along the route.
"We deployed the Kenya Railways engineers to assess the damage caused before we embark on reconstructing the section. The whole exercise will take us about three months," revealed Mr Mainga.
The nearby Kijabe railway station was also damaged by the floods.
