Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja chairs a meeting with the leadership of the national and county road agencies on river rehabilitation, May 5, 2026. /JOHNSON SAKAJAThe Nairobi City County Government has identified 227 flood-prone hotspots ahead of the anticipated El Niño rains, with about 100,000 residents potentially facing displacement in a worst-case scenario.
Governor Johnson Sakaja said 26 of 61 critical drainage sites had been cleared across the county’s 17 subcounties, as efforts to desilt rivers, unblock waterways and remove illegal structures along river channels continue.
Speaking during the Second National Development Implementation Committee meeting in Nairobi, Sakaja said the county had mapped out areas where temporary shelters would be established to support households affected by flooding.
“We have a plan for that together with the Kenya Red Cross and the national government. Shelter kits will be positioned in those areas. We do not want to create IDP camps,” he said, explaining that designated rescue centres would mainly be schools and social halls.
He said the centres would primarily be used to register affected households in line with national disaster response protocols, with assistance designed to help residents return to their homes rather than remain in temporary camps.
“In Nairobi, if you give people some resources, cash transfers, they will find their way,” he said.
“If you set up dependency on a single location, they will never leave if they know there’s food, if they know there’s shelter. They will stay there, and you will have IDP camps,” he added.
Sakaja said drainage clearance works were continuing even on Sundays and would require Sh5.17 billion, with funding and support from the county government and entities including the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) and the Kenya Red Cross.
The governor urged residents to take the weather forecast seriously, dismissing doubts about whether the anticipated El Niño rains would materialise.
He said the Kenya Meteorological Department had projected the onset of the rains in the third week of October, with a 96 to 98 per cent probability.
“I have heard people doubting whether there’s El Niño. We must respect science. All factors have turned positive except one, which is the Indian Ocean Dipole, that is being monitored. As soon as it turns red, then there’s definitely a heavy super El Niño event,” he said.
Sakaja cited stormy weather recently experienced in Kisumu as an indication of the adverse conditions forecast by meteorologists.
“Heavy winds, strong rains. That’s exactly what the Met Department said. They brief us every morning and every evening, and so we are up to date,” he said.
He added that forecasts indicated temperatures had already risen by 2.7 degrees Celsius on August 12, with prolonged wet spells and isolated storms expected to continue until February 2027.
Sakaja said Nairobi’s drainage system could ordinarily cope with sustained rainfall but was vulnerable when large volumes of water fell within a short period, as happened on March 6.
“We had 160mm of rain one night. That’s when we lost lives — people were swept away in Grogan, Westlands and many of these areas. But when it’s sustained at lower levels for many days, it flows, and we have opened our rivers,” he said.
He said forecasts suggested that all counties except Turkana and Marsabit were likely to experience heavy rains, with a high risk of flooding.
“In fact, I’m worried about our neighbours because the water is going to flow, and it will get to those areas,” he said.
The governor said Nairobi county was drawing lessons from the 1997 El Niño event, particularly the need to clear waterways and prevent human habitation in high-risk areas before the rains begin.
“If you go to the Westgate area, where we lost a number of lives, we’ve opened up the river. It was put in a small box culvert. If you go there today, it’s flowing freely; it’s breathing,” he said.
He added that the county had, in recent days, carried out demolitions along 1st Parklands Avenue, where houses and perimeter walls obstructing a river had been brought down.
“We have said we must do whatever it takes to save lives, and whatever litigation happens, we shall deal with it after we save lives,” Sakaja said.
He said more than 38 teams were deployed in each of the county’s 17 subcounties to undertake the clearance and mitigation works.
Sakaja also sought to clarify the division of responsibility for road drainage, saying a significant portion of Nairobi’s roads fell under the national government and were managed by KeNHA and KURA.
“But the public does not know that, and so when somebody is stuck on Uhuru Highway, it is Sakaja,” he said.
He added that both levels of government were implementing mitigation measures because flooding in one area could affect communities downstream.
“Because what happens on Expressway and Mombasa Road comes down to Imara Daima, it goes down to Mukuru, it affects Ngong River and the people downstream,” he said.
Sakaja said procurement processes for the remaining drainage works had taken too long, appealing for emergency procurement of contractors to accelerate implementation ahead of the expected rains.
