Extreme Event

Sector

Likely physical impacts in the various regions as a result of vulnerability

Floods

Agriculture and food security

Silting or destruction of small dams and pans, especially in ASALs used for irrigation or watering points for livestock

Losses of crops and stock from heavy rains and floods

Floods leach soils rendering them infertile resulting in poor yield. Floods also cause physical damage to crops thus affecting the final yields

Floods kill livestock and promote outbreak of killer diseases such as pneumonia, rift valley fever and the blue tongue

Floods cause soil nutrient leaching and actual vegetation death due to root suffocation

When livestock is adversely affected, food security is threatened due to loss of the industry’s food contribution in terms of livestock and livestock products

Water, aquatic ecosystems and associated infrastructure

Extensive damage to water supply and sanitation infrastructure, including pipelines and pumping stations

dams overtopping due to extreme flooding

Excessive river sedimentation

Coastal erosion, excessive siltation as well as Inundation of coastal wetlands causing major disruption of functions of important aquatic ecosystems including coral reefs; mangroves; seagrass/seaweed Beds; estuaries, deltas and lagoons

Health including sanitation and human settlement

Food shortages from crop losses affects children’s health

Increased incidence of water-borne diseases following flooding

Physical injury and death

Increased cases of diarrhea diseases due to inadequate portable water or contamination of water sources

Destruction of public and primary healthcare facilities

Human settlements and infrastructure being destroyed

Long-term effects on mental health and people may experience anxiety or depression for some time after a flood disaster

Energy and relevant infrastructure

Likelihood of flood waters uprooting power poles

Likelihood of flood water uprooting trees which in turn fall on power lines

Likelihood of floods disrupting normal production and distribution of essential petroleum products such as cooking gas and other fuels to isolated areas that heavily rely on such commodities for their energy supply as a result of roads being impassable

Floods will lead to increased sedimentation and hence frequent breakdowns of turbines at the power stations, causing frequent power cutting and therefore reduced industrial activity. Such floods are also destructive to both animal and plant life, which translates to a reduction in biomass production (note that over 80% of energy used in Kenya for domestic activities is biomass based)

Terrestrial ecosystem including forestry and Tourism

Destruction of infrastructure used by tourism industry(especially roads)

Damage to ecosystems on which tourism depends (e.g. Coral reefs)