More than 80 dead after persistent rainfall in Kenya

The annual rainy season, which usually begins in the second half of March, started a month earlier this year and was very heavy. In the greater Nairobi area and in western Kenya, roads turned into raging rivers within a very short space of time, surprising pedestrians and drivers alike. Some were swept away in these incidents and drowned, while others suffered fatal electric shocks from exposed or torn-off cables.

In western Kenya, the Nyando River burst its banks and flooded numerous roads in the vicinity of Kisumu, the country's third-largest city. In Nairobi, the authorities had already asked residents of low-lying districts to leave their houses and apartments at the weekend, as it was feared that a river dyke would break and these areas would be flooded. The Kenyan Red Cross reported on the evacuation of pupils from endangered schools in western Kenya.

As a result of climate change, extreme weather events are also becoming more frequent in the East African country - with very different manifestations: While people in the west and in the densely populated capital Nairobi are worried about torrential rain, the north of the country has been suffering from drought for months.