Flooding and landslides in Kenya’s coastal region have stopped rail cargo services going to and from the port city of Mombasa, according to reports by the state-owned rail operator on Saturday.
Heavy rains linked to the El Nino phenomenon, had quickly been followed by flash floods, submerging towns across the region, and leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
In Kenya, the death toll from the floods is presently at 46 and it is still expected to rise some more.
The now halted railway had been in charge of moving cargo to other countries in the region, including to Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan.
Kenya Railways had released a statement saying that limited passenger services would continue.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics revealed its standard gauge railway transported 6 million metric tons of cargo last year, an increase from the 5.4 million recorded a year earlier.
In Somalia, 41 deaths have been recorded due to the heavy downpour and floods. The number displaced persons have almost doubled to 649,000 within the past week, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced in its latest update on Saturday, November 17.
