Kenya appeals for help as flood devastation spreads

Displaced people walk through the rising water in Dadaab, Kenya. Kenya has appealed for aid to help hundreds of thousands of people hit by devastating and deadly floods across the country triggered by unusually heavy seasonal rains.(AFP/File/Frederic Courbet)

Kenya has appealed for aid to help hundreds of thousands of people hit by devastating and deadly floods across the country triggered by unusually heavy seasonal rains.

As rains continued to pound north and coastal Kenya, authorities made a national appeal for 562,072,500 million shillings (7.9 million dollars) to help about 300,000 people who are affected by the floods, which have so far killed 23 people.

"We are launching an appeal to assist 300,000 beneficiaries for three months. The appeal is based on the current situation in which many districts, especially the coastal regions has been badly hit," Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) secretary general Abbas Gulled told a press conference on Wednesday.