BY
ADOW JUBAT
Residents of Ijara and Hullugho sub-counties were
cut off from the rest of the country for the last three days following heavy
rains that has rendered roads impassable.
Hundreds of commuters remained stranded on
Masalani-Garissa road for days, while others took on foot for several
kilometers after the public vehicles they were traveling in got stucked in the
muddy weather road at several points.
The stranded travelers accused the Garissa County
government of messy up with their roads by allowing cowboys contractors to
undertake shoddy road on parts of the road leading to the stucking of vehicles
at places previously not bad as it is today.
“The road was better before the purported road
construction was done through the funding of the County government.
Constructors are being given free hand to do road working and they were putting
mountains of poor sand on the road instead of using proper material” Ahmed
Yussuf one of the passengers who was stranded with his 5 children lamented.
School children on holiday were among those stranded
in Aliemish, Nanigi and Dowaley areas in Ijara and Fafi constituencies’
respectfully.
On Friday last week heavy rains that pounded Garissa
town led to millions of loses to Business after flash floods swept away
business premises and destroyed several stalls and a filling station .
Pools of water formed by the torrential rains washed
away business premises, after poorly constructed drainage system and choked
culverts diverted the running water into trading centers in the town.
According to
local metrological department, the rain experienced in the town on Sunday was
heaviest compared to the rainfall traditional expected in the area.
The Garissa county director of metrological
department Simon Gachuiri, said the overnight downpours in Garissa town alone
stand at 61.2mm which he noted is uncommon in the area.
He said “When rainfall is more than 50mm is said to be very heavy in the region. Weather forecast predict that there will be more similar rain in the next two days”,
Traders at the famous suq Muqdi (the black) market suffered a big loses after the entire open air market was submerged with flood.
He said “When rainfall is more than 50mm is said to be very heavy in the region. Weather forecast predict that there will be more similar rain in the next two days”,
Traders at the famous suq Muqdi (the black) market suffered a big loses after the entire open air market was submerged with flood.
Aisha Mohamed one of the effected traders looked at
her damaged empty stall whose contents were washed away or submerged. “When the
rain started pounding I had great fears that my business would be affected. My
fear has now being confirmed this destruction,” She said pointed to her flooded
stall.
Underground tanks holding hundreds of thousands of
gallons of petrol and diesels were also destroyed under impact of raging floods,
after poorly constructed culvert nearby got blocked and forcing the raging
water to change its course toward the premium patrol station on the outskirts
of Garissa town.
The water forced the underground tanks to collapse
and “vomit” its content outside to mingle into the running waters.
Abdi Abdullahi the owner of the petrol station estimated his losses at 30 million shilling saying that tanks have extensively damaged after culverts got blocked forcing the raging rain waters to flood into his filling station.
“I can estimate my losses over Sh.30million I don’t blame anyone as rain is a blessing from God but I would urge the county government to at least make the culverts wide and undertake their work professionally so that it does not get blocked easily,” He advised
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