Every rainy season, the road near Gate Iguru footbridge will flood. Motorists streaming into or out of town will wonder why the traffic is slow, only for them to reach this part and realize that a section of the road has decided to become a mini pool.

They will curse under their breath and if anyone is seated next to them, the drivers will recount how every rainy season, the road near Gate Iguru footbridge will flood.

A similar tired story will be told by residents in the lower parts of Nakuru city at Manyani, Kivumbini estates. At least one person loses their lives by falling into the uncovered drainage systems, that are usually overflowing with ravaging waters rushing towards Lake Nakuru.

Most residents in this area will tell stories of how they watched as water, uninvited, spilled into their houses, the perimeter walls of their houses notwithstanding. Journalists, prompt as always will dash to this scene, take photos of household items drenched in dirty water and interview people clutching onto their wet clothes, waiting for the interviews to end so they can find a place to rest their heads that day.

Every rainy season, Nakuru residents near Section 58 wake up to deep holes where roads used to exist. These episodes are usually followed by a knee jerk reaction from the county administration, which sends officers to the scene, who rush giving food items, constructing drainages that could be overpowered by a drizzle and filling up holes on the road with construction stones.

Nakuru residents deserve better. They deserve a Roads and Transport department that gives long lasting solutions. They deserve a planning department that cares about the path of water and advices landlords on where to put up residential houses. They deserve to sleep soundly in their houses, without the fear of their homes turning into a pool.

But equally important, they deserve to have meaningful conversations in traffic, and not one about how every rainy season, the road near Gate Iguru footbridge will flood.

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Tales of destruction caused by floods are exhausting

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