Surviving the floods of Lamu, Kenya

In the Tana Delta, coastal Kenya, a single flooding event can wipe out an entire village. It has happened in the past; many times.

Mumina Barufa; mother of seven, resident of Bandi Village, one of the locations tormented by flooding at least once each year, is still living in a displaced people's camp since October 2023. She says she has seen the worst of the floods over the years.

"Here in Bandi, the flooding is mostly sudden. So, if as a woman, you get caught up in the floods with five little children; how do you help them? You can't! So you just close your eyes and let go of some of them," she said, explaining that women and children are mostly left at home as men move with their livestock in search of pasture.

View a related video

While the story of displacement is shared by all the villages across the delta with only a few exceptions, something was markedly different in the 2023/24 flooding episode: No life was lost, neither did the pastoral communities lose any livestock as has been the case in the past.

The County government of Lamu - the local administration - working with partners, had only months ahead of the rains, established an emergency operations centre which brings all emergency operators under one roof, improving coordination, enhancing efficiency.

Watch the story of their award-winning initiative: