Transport services along the Lamu-Garsen road have been paralyzed for two consecutive days after floodwaters destroyed part of the road at Gamba area on Friday, May 10, 2024.
Waters from River Tana have blocked a section of the road and destroyed other parts, forcing travelers to seek alternative means to cross over to the neighboring areas.
Passengers have now been forced to spend more money to pay for boat services to ferry them across the destroyed parts of the road.
Videos shared of Gamba area on the Lamu-Garsen road showed a patient being carried into one of the waiting boats after road transport in and out of Lamu was cut off by the flooded River Tana.
“The fare for one boat used to be fifteen thousand, today there are 350 passengers while yesterday there were around 300, and according to how the water is rising, it seems the prices will continue to rise,” said Paul Kimani, a resident of Lamu.
Locals also lamented that the disruption of transport services has led to reduced supply of food, hence making life harder.
“The road has been cut off, there’s no food whatsoever, it’s difficult now because life has become hard.” Lamented John Kimwa.
Further, the residents said the government hasn’t provided routes or makeshift paths to help stranded passengers.
“When the road was first cut off, they made makeshift paths, but now the water has risen, it’s a problem, the road is impassable at the moment,” Mohamed Omar, another resident said.
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Lamu Governor Blames Ministry of Transport
Lamu County leadership explained that efforts to reach the relevant authorities have been futile leading to the cutting off of the main channel between Lamu and Tana River counties.
Governor Issa Timamy faulted the Ministry of Transport for failing to address the situation, where the road network gets cut off every flooding season due to waters from the upstream River Tana.
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“I wrote a letter to the PS of Roads and copied the Minister of Roads since April around the 22nd, but I hope steps will be taken and the relevant authority will take necessary actions to swiftly repair this road,” he said.
The national assembly transport and infrastructure committee had indicated that the government was carrying out an assessment of all the roads destroyed by floods to ensure the allocation of funds to repair the damaged roads and bridges.
According to residents, the road was destroyed also in November 2023 by water from River Tana.
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KeNHA Notice
On May 11, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) announced the temporary closure the Road between Gamba and Lango la Simba.
“This follows the ongoing heavy downpours experienced upstream that has resulted in the Tana River breaking its banks and subsequent overtopping of the road thus hampering transportation activities,” KeNHA said.
The Authority said it will keep monitoring the situation and give further updates to the public in due course.
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