GENEVA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- More than a month of heavy rains and the floods afterwards have claimed an estimated 100 lives and displaced nearly 260,000 people in Kenya, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Thursday.
The floods may also trigger or worsen outbreaks of disease such as malaria and cholera, and water sources have been contaminated and 33 health centres have been destroyed along with homes, crops, irrigation systems and farm equipment, and roads and train lines, the IFRC said.
According to the IFRC, many of the communities affected were already struggling to recover from the 2017 drought.
"This is a double tragedy for many communities," said Abbas Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society, "I'm worried that these floods will push some people beyond the brink."
According to the Kenya Red Cross, there are already active cholera outbreaks in five of the counties affected by floods.
IFRC said that jointly with the Kenya Red Cross Society, they have launched an international emergency appeal for some 4.7 million U.S. dollars to provide shelter and settlement, health and nutrition, water and sanitation and food security and livelihoods support for 150,000 people.
