In the past three weeks, Kenya has been gripped by a relentless weather ire that has turned bustling city streets into raging floods and quiet rural villages into islands of despair.
While the "long rains" season is a familiar rhythm in East Africa, the intensity of the prior to the March, April, May (MAM) 2026, rainy season, downpours have pushed the nation’s spirit and infrastructure to their limits.
It is unfortunate that as Nairobi city anticipates new developments with Governor Johnson Sakaja having signed a Kshs.80 billion deal with the National Government through President William Ruto, the catastrophe in form of floods struck leaving many a Kenyan disheartened.
The heavy rains between 6th and 7th March left many Kenyans grieving after losing more than 70 of their loved ones, scores of properties destroyed and people displaced due to the devastating floods.
The heavy rains that have swept across Kenya since early March 2026 have left behind a trail of mourning and massive destruction to infrastructure virtually in all sectors, testing the country's disaster preparedness and communal resilience.
However, the Government Spokesperson, Dr. Isaac Mwaura, says that both the national and the county governments are up to the task bestowed on them by the hand of nature but for the human error that has unfortunately caused people the current misery.
The catastrophe, Dr. Mwaura observes, was caused by both natural and man-made actions through careless disposal of solid waste by residents and encroachments onto riparian lands particularly, in Nairobi city.
The Spokesperson regrets that some people are reported to be still missing while others are recuperating in hospitals and pronounces the twin governments’ commitment to give them full support to attain recovery for the missing ones and foot the bills of those in hospitals alongside burial expenses for the departed.
On the other hand, Dr. Mwaura reckons, more than 9,033 persons were displaced by the floods across the country with Nairobi having the highest number of displacements followed by Migori, Makueni and Kisumu counties.
Beyond the loss of life, the humanitarian crisis is deepening as the more than 9, 000 families were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in temporary camps at church and school compounds after their property was water-logged and filled with sludge or swept away by the rising waters especially in the informal settlements.
The capital city, Nairobi, remains the most severely affected, with residential estates being submerged and essential transport corridors rendered impassable by huge silt deposits compounded by the continuing heavy rains following the start of the real MAM season rains.
The National Multi-Agency Emergency Response Secretariat in a press release signed by the Government Spokesperson reassures Kenyans that the government is keenly monitoring the situation ready to deal with possible negative impacts as the country welcomes the onset of the long rains’ season.
“We are aware that having come earlier than normally expected most of the farmers were caught unawares and we urge them to act fast and begin planting so as to benefit from the long rains season,” the press release reads in part.
The latest advisory by the Kenya Meteorological Department (METD) warns that the rainfall being experienced over several parts of the country will intensify as the season progresses to its peak towards end of this month and into April.
The advisory further cautions that apart from Marsabit, Isiolo, Wajir, Mandera and Tana River counties where serious effects of the rains will be experienced only in some parts, all the other Counties remain of concern and County Governments are advised to remain alert.
Residents of these counties are urged to be on the look out of flash floods and poor visibility for both air and road transport.
“Avoid driving through or walking across fast-moving voluminous waters or sheltering under trees or near grilled windows to minimise exposure to lightning strikes,” the advisory cautions.
With the onset of the MAM rainy season all parts of the country including areas that have been experiencing severe drought especially in the north eastern region, including; Marsabit, Mandera, Garissa and Wajir are currently experiencing rainfall though at various degrees of intensity.
The National and County governments in collaboration with development partners and non-governmental stakeholders, Dr. Mwaura assures, are executing humanitarian assistance to the flood victims in Nairobi, Nyanza and other regions that were and are still experiencing severe flooding.
Responsible agencies are on high alert for rapid response in case of any danger in any part of the country to avert loss of lives and property in avoidance of what happened early this month even as the government continues to support the victims of the 6th March, 2026 floods, Dr. Mwaura affirms.
The assistance involves; provision of food and Non-Food Items (NFIs), Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) equipment along with Mental Health Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) for the affected families particularly those camped in churches and schools.
On the flipside, it is expected the country will have one of the best growing seasons ever, in the agricultural areas powered by a developing positive Indian Ocean Dipole.
It is also expected that areas around the productive Mt. Kenya region will receive the highest evenly distributed rains and farmers are being advised to prepare their farms and start planting in readiness for the rains anticipated to go all the way to May.
To help the farmers tap into these expected benefits, the ministry of agriculture has mapped out the agricultural areas into two categories - areas expected to have near-average to above-average rainfall and those expecting near-average to below-average rainfall.
The areas expecting near-average to above-average rainfall, according to the Ministry’s records, harbour positive impacts comprising; crop diversification in various agro- ecological zones, water harvesting and conservation for agricultural use, increased sales opportunities for businesses selling farm inputs including; seeds, agro-chemicals, equipment and machinery as well as soil conservation measures, water retention ditches and structures.
The ministry on the other sides identifies negative impacts as, enhanced risk of pests and disease outbreaks due to increased humidity, potential flooding, waterlogging, landslides and soil erosion alongside subsequent loss of livelihoods, risk of damaged infrastructure like roads leading to disruption of the supply chain and nutrient leaching and delayed planting or harvesting due to potential flooding and waterlogging.
Records from the ministry indicate that key response measures or mitigation and management strategies of negative impacts are in place including, timely dissemination of early warning and seasonal advisories to sector stakeholders, early land preparation and timely planting.
Other measures involve, availing and upscaling of timely provision of drought tolerant, fast maturing crops and pasture varieties, promotion of climate smart technology skills such as minimal tillage, conservation agriculture and facilitated market access for agricultural products through produce aggregation besides promotion of water harvesting and efficient irrigation techniques such as drip systems and much more.
A whole-of-government contingency plan, the Government Spokesperson says, has been instituted with the Ministry of Health deploying surveillance teams to counties being affected by the ongoing rains and issued advisories on flood-related injuries and potential disease outbreaks.
A stern directive has on the other hand been issued on citizens living in high-risk zones - riparian lands or low-lying, flood-prone to evacuate to higher and safer grounds immediately to avoid further danger.
Hilda Ng’etich works at the Office of Government Spokesperson.
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