KENYA: Despite more than a heavy rains devastating drought not over, warn Kenya meteorologist department

Record ID: 362892

  • Title: KENYA: Despite more than a heavy rains devastating drought not over, warn Kenya meteorologist department
  • Date: 8th March 2006
  • Summary: (W3)KAJIADO, KENYA (MARCH 7,2006)(REUTERS) WIDE SHOT LANDSCAPE WITH HEAVY RAIN CLOUDS; LANDSCAPE SHOWING WET MUDDY SOIL AFTER RAINS (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVAF1WPTLX0DMCK1C2HRFS01D57U
  • Story Text: Despite recent heavy rains in Kenya, farmers and herders remain concerned about their livelihood after tens of thousands of livestock died from hunger and thirst across east Africa in one of the region's worst droughts for years.
    "We are still struggling, even though it has rained, there is nothing to plant right now. Even if we planted, the plants would not grow because the dry spell is not over." said Emalachi Ikulu.
    The severe drought that has ravaged Kenya, causing hunger and hitting key export crops, is not over despite a week of rains, the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) said on Wednesday.
    "It's too early to talk about the end of the drought," the department's deputy director William Nyakwada told reporters. "Overall, we're still in for a bad time."
    No rain fell on the arid northeast, where most of Kenya's estimated 3.5 million people currently at risk famine from the drought live.
    "Drought conditions are likely to continue in the most distressed areas," Nyakwada said.
    The KMD says the early rains were caused by an Indian Ocean cyclone which last week sucked moist air eastward from Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In small settlements near Kajiado local residents queued to get food at a distribution site set up by a small local non governmental organisation. Maize beans and cooking oil were distributed.
    "There still people in the villages who have received food, so what I am asking is if there is additional food elsewhere we should be given so that every one can get something to eat." said Nalotuesha a local resident. The United Nations estimates that at least 6.25 million people are in need of immediate food aid in the region because of drought.
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