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Dozens of tourists were evacuated by air from Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve after more than a dozen hotels, lodges and camps were flooded by heavy rains that hit the country.
Tourist accommodation facilities were submerged after a river in the Masai Mara burst its banks on Wednesday morning. The reserve, in the southwest Kenyais a popular tourist destination because it includes the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
The Kenya Red Cross said it had rescued more than 90 people. The Narok County Government said it had deployed two helicopters to carry out evacuations in the vast protected area.
More than 170 people have died in Kenya since mid-March when the rainy season began, causing floods, landslides and destruction of infrastructure. The weather department said more rain is expected this week.
On Wednesday, three major roads in the capital Nairobi were temporarily closed due to flooding. The Kenya Red Cross rescued 11 people from a residential area – Kitengela – on the outskirts of Nairobi after their homes were flooded overnight.
A river tore through a blocked tunnel in the Mai Mahiu district of western Kenya on Monday, sweeping away houses and damaging roads. 48 people died in it, and more than 80 others were missing.
Search and rescue operations in Mai Mahiu continue. On Tuesday, President William Ruto ordered the military to join the search. Locals say rescue efforts are slow due to a lack of equipment to dig out the debris.
The government urged people living in flood-prone areas to evacuate or be forcibly relocated as water levels in two hydroelectric dams rose to “historic highs”.
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