Kenya's Ruto orders evacuations after catastrophic rainfall, deadly floods

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00:00 Surrounded by rescuers and security forces, William Ruto visited Kamarichi village to

00:07 assess the damage.

00:09 After meeting with grieving families, the Kenyan president warned more flooding was

00:13 expected in the coming days, and urged residents to evacuate the area.

00:18 All fragile areas that are prone to landslides and flooding, we are asking every Kenyan in

00:29 such areas to leave.

00:32 On Monday, a river burst through a blocked tunnel close to the village, sweeping away

00:37 panicked residents and killing at least 48 people.

00:42 It was the latest and deadliest incident since the start of the rainy season, which has triggered

00:48 widespread flooding across Kenya and forced some 150,000 people to flee their homes.

00:54 This is historic, normally we have floods but not of such magnitude.

01:00 In all my life I've never seen anything like this.

01:04 Rescue efforts were still underway in Kamarichi as search teams attempted to pull out bodies

01:09 stuck under fallen trees or buried in mud.

01:13 There are little babies in the water, older people and a lot of things, things have been

01:19 swept away.

01:20 Actually it was a very bad scenario.

01:21 People are screaming, people are crying, people are losing their lives.

01:26 The government warned Tuesday water levels at two hydroelectric dams had reached historic

01:32 highs and said they expected the structures to burst in the coming days.

01:37 Ruto said the military had been mobilized to help residents evacuate within the next

01:42 48 hours.

01:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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