Kenya searches for more than 90 missing after floods

AFP

Rescuers were searching on Tuesday for at least 91 people missing in heavy flooding across Kenya, the interior ministry said.

At least 46 people were killed on Monday morning in a mudslide and flash floods in Mai Mahiu town in central Kenya, the ministry said in a situation report, an increase of one on the previous death toll.

Survivors in Mai Mahiu described an onslaught of water that carried away houses, cars and railway tracks.

Fifty-three more people in Mai Mahiu were reported missing, the interior ministry said, while the Kenya Red Cross said its tracing desk had reports of 76 missing.

In all, at least 169 people have died across Kenya from heavy rains and flooding since last month. More than 185,000 have been forced from their homes, according to government data.

Dozens more have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by intense downpours in Tanzania and Burundi, with scientists saying climate change is causing more intense and frequent extreme weather events.

The eastern county of Garissa, where four people were killed when their boat capsized over the weekend and 23 others were rescued from the floodwaters, has reported 16 people missing, the interior ministry said.

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