Effects Of Floods On Infrastructure User In Kenya
Road infrastructure
Since the transportation industry is one of the most flood-prone, the quality and resilience of the roads in inclement weather are typically determined by the type of road surface.Â
The majority of roads are vulnerable to the effects of severe rainfall because, according to KIHBS 2015–2016 data, 46% of the road surface is made up of earth roads, 22% of the road surface is made up of murram, and 7% is tarmac.Â
It is reported that unfavorable conditions during the rainy seasons rendered 24% of the key highways impassable for the entire year.
To determine the extent of road infrastructure destruction caused by the floods that occurred in 2017 and 2018 in different counties, KIPPRA conducted a study.
The study found that counties that are prone to flooding had high levels of road infrastructure destruction because of the extra water on the roads, which prolonged the time it took to access road transport services.
Furthermore, counties with low road network densities offered fewer alternate routes to get to social facilities like markets, which resulted in longer travel times.
In general, 47.6% of the counties stated that during the rainy seasons, they took longer to use transportation services.
In addition, it was noted that counties reported, at percentages of 20.9%, 18.3%, and 9%, respectively, experiencing infrastructure destruction, higher access costs to goods and services, and isolation from other regions.
Energy infrastructure
According to KIHBS data from 2015–2016, 31.67% of houses used a grid connection for illumination.
Just 16.11% of households light their homes using solar energy, whereas 37% use paraffin, a nonrenewable energy source.
The numbers also show that just 6.4% of the primary electricity comes from solar-powered sources, with the remaining 92.9% coming from Kenya Power Lighting Company (KPLC), the primary power distributor.
According to the KIPPRA study, when it comes to the number of energy connections by county, urban counties have the highest rates of connection to the main power grid, while rural counties have the lowest rates.
According to the KIPPRA study, counties had more power interruptions during times of flooding.
This is especially because power transformers and electric poles, which are readily broken and washed away by flowing water, are poorly maintained and installed.
In addition, dams that facilitate the production of hydroelectricity are unable to manage massive amounts of water during the rainy seasons.
Water overflowing the dams has happened multiple times, disrupting the supply of electricity and increasing the frequency of blackouts.
It was noted that respondents resorted to using alternative energy sources for lighting when power outages occurred as a result of flood incidents.
About 81% of the energy was used for candles and paraffin, and 6.22% was for solar power.
It was observed that merely 12% of the residences had solar panels installed.
Furthermore, the KIPPRA analysis shows that counties with the highest rates of household ownership of solar panels did so as a result of vigorous efforts encouraging household adoption of solar energy.
Nevertheless, since the majority of homes are wired into the power system, counties with an urban population have lower solar ownership rates.
Building structures
According to the KIPPRA survey, iron sheet was the most used roofing material for residential buildings.
It was noted that because grass is readily available and because of cultural customs, grass roofing was widespread for residential buildings in some drought-prone regions.
Similar to this, market buildings, schools, and health facilities tended to have iron sheet roofs.
According to the study, the extent of building structural devastation caused by the floods that occurred in 2017 and 2018 varied throughout counties.
Schools, market structures, and health centers were largely unaffected by the weather.
However, the largest rates of building structure destruction were seen in counties that are prone to flooding.
In a similar vein, the study finds that counties with semipermanent housing structures saw the highest rates of flood-related household destruction.
These households also reported an increase in property damage, livestock and human fatalities, and property damage.
The majority of walls in 55% of household dwellings are made of mud, according to KIHBS data from 2015–2016.
In other homes, the primary wall materials are bricks, grass, and wood.
Generally speaking, these materials might not be able to endure the intense winds and downpours that occur during the rainy seasons.
Repairing of damaged infrastructure
One of the actions taken to address the damage following a disaster is rebuilding or repairing the infrastructure.
But this is frequently highly expensive, sluggish, and complicated. Furthermore, to sufficiently restore the infrastructure services, the parties in charge of fixing the infrastructure in different counties lack the necessary financial and technical resources.
Flood-related infrastructure restoration and repair typically come with significant financial costs.
Governments are typically the ones who own 95% of the vital infrastructure in developing nations, and they must fix any damaged infrastructure.
In Kenya, restoring publicly owned and, to a lesser extent, privately held infrastructure is the responsibility of both the national and county governments.
This puts additional strain on the resources allotted for this purpose.
Effects Of Floods On Infrastructure User In Kenya
