THE EFFECTS OF HEAVY RAINFALL AFTER PROLONGED DROUGHT SITUATION.

By Reporter .
Kyuso District is located next too Mwingi District of Eastern Part of Kenya. The climate of Kyuso District is generally hot and dry for the greater part of the year. The maximum mean annual temperature ranges between 260 C and 340 C whereas the minimum mean annual temperature ranges between 140 C and 220 C. This translates into an average annual temperature of 240 C. The district experiences a long stretches of dry, hot seasons between the months of August and September and again in the months of January and February.

This year 2009 was the year that the district experienced the longest drought ever. Since 2008 both September and march rains have disappeared. Its was two years since the last rain drop fall.

There was a report from the meteorological department that El Niño rains were underway. Kyuso community was very happy waiting for that rains. Because of long drought, they couldn’t realise the effects of El-Niño rains.

Fortunately enough, the rains are back. Its one week since it started raining.
Despite happiness of the community’s farm preparations and rain celebrations: there are intense effects that came with the rains. These effects include;

Leaking roofs.
During long droughts people rarely repair their roofs and houses. When the rain started, most people discovered that their houses were in bad shapes. There are lots of roof leakages and the walls.

Smell of dead animals’ carcase
During the two year drought season, a lot of animals including donkeys and cows died of hunger and thirst. Some of the community members were burying the carcass while other carcase was thrown in the forests and near river bodies to rot by themselves.

When the rains came and fall on the rotting carcases bad smell is all over the District especially near the forests and rivers.

Dying of the animal that survived.
During the drought season, the livestock can feed on dry leaves and small particles of grass, but when it rains, no dry leaves and grass is not palatable.

Due to prolonged dry season, the rains come with new diseases and infections. Due to low animals body immunity caused by long drought, the animals succumb to the situation.




Dead animals after the first rain.

During the drought season, the animals had nothing to drink in terms of water. The fast rains come with a lot of water. The animals consume a lot of water without rationing and abruptly. This lead to death.

Diseases.
When the rains come, diseases especially severe flue and malaria increases. The community people suffer severe flue and cold due to increased mosquito inflation, tsetseflys and weather change.

Flooding.
Kyuso community had waited for rains until they lost hope. Very few people were prepared when the rains started. Other people could predict that this time round, rains were coming but had little time to prepare.
The first rains were heavy and water went flooding everywhere. Very little people had prepared for water harvesting mechanisms.

The earthdams, underground water tanks and slankers trapped enough water and flooded allover.despite this fact, after two days the flooding disappeared.

In farms without terraces, the top soil was carried away and the lower parts of land terrain.

Most roads pass through rivers. When the rivers flood there no way out of the town. People get trapped either outside or inside the town.

Increase electricity burns and blackouts.
The rains affect current flow and cause short circuits. This increase electricity burns and blackouts. Blackouts have become so frequent that working with electricity is a problem.

Vehicles breakdowns.
There were five burses operating in Kyuso. When the rains started, only one bus was operating. Most buses got stuck in the mud and some of them had breakdowns in every short distance moved.
Breaking of bridges.
Roads that pass through the rivers are held by bridges. Now the bridges have been destroyed by rains and vehicle cannot pass the bridge when it’s raining, they have to wait until the time when water level goes down.

Conclusion.

It’s a high time for the communities to learn signs of rains for enough preparations before rains. During rains, there’s enough water and food and nobody cares to harvest or store them. When dry season starts, people suffer a lot because they don’t store enough water and food for use.