El Nino threatens Kenya with heavy rains and flooding

Among the key areas to be affected are roads, water supply systems and health due to a possible outbreak of water borne and related ailments. The country went through the same scenario in 1997/98 when such rains caused damage of the same magnitude as expected if the heavy rainfall pounds. The heavy rainfall is forecast to fall between August 2009 and March 2010, with some parts of Western and Nyanza provinces already recording more than normal rainfall. Onset of rain in other parts of the country is expected to start latest by the second week of October. Although forecast to fall at a moderate rate compared to the heavy rainfall of 1997/98, the terrain has changed for the worse with most of the vegetation cover having been lost mostly through human activity.