Overnight rains leave city residents stuck in floods
National
By
Okumu Modachi
| May 02, 2026
For the past week, relentless rains have battered Nairobi, triggering floods that have intermittently crippled operations across the city, with the latest witnessed on Friday, 1, appearing to be the most devastating.
The heavy overnight rains rendered the city’s major roads impassable, paralysing movement across Nairobi as motorists remained stranded for hours, disrupting transport routes.
Trailers crawled like wounded giants along the waterlogged stretches of Mombasa Road, their wheels half-submerged in the murky floodwaters that threatened to sweep them.
Mombasa Road was among the worst-hit roads, with flooding between Mlolongo and Cabanas bringing traffic to a complete standstill early Friday.
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Public service vehicles were caught in heavy traffic over a long distance that stretched from Ole Sereni towards Mlolongo, forcing some to reroute.
Benard Ngige, a taxi driver, expressed frustrations occasioned by the floods that had him stuck at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport exit for more than four hours.
“I left the airport at 4 am. Before I reached the Cabanas stage heading to town, I encountered a lot of water. I have stayed for almost four hours; the car was flooded and could not move. We are asking the government to look into the road drainage,” he said.
“I would have made good money in those hours. I have only made losses,” he decried.
His counterpart, Simon Mwangi, narrated a similar experience.
“I arrived at around 4 am and found the road flooded in the middle, and the vehicle stalled.”
He said he was trapped with his passengers until the emergency responders from the Kenya Red Cross came to their rescue after hours of uncertainty and fear.
“I had passengers and could not help them until the Red Cross team came and assisted us,” he explained, even as he decried the huge loss he registered.
“We have incurred huge losses. This vehicle had just been fixed by a mechanic. All that work and the fuel have gone to waste.”
“We should look at drainage. If the drainage were proper, the water would flow to where it is supposed to go. The government needs to put more effort there,” he urged.
Workers at JKIA and travellers using the facilities also had a fair share of the challenges occasioned by the floods.
“I had to take a boda boda from Athi River to JKIA,” Judith Nashipae, a worker at the facility, told The Saturday Standard.
Travellers lamented the increased transport service fees from the JKIA main entrance to the terminals by taxi operators, a development they told this publication was addressed by the airport management after they raised the concerns.
Along Enterprise Road near Karatasi Products factory, movements were disrupted as motorists and pedestrians alike struggled to navigate the flooded road.
William Kimani, whose vehicle broke down near the place days ago, now fears that it might be swept away by the floods should the rains persist.
“That car is mine; it has been there for three days, and the floods have worsened the situation because water has entered inside. I also fear it might be carried away by the water,” he said.
According to the Kenya Red Cross, Eastern Bypass and Langata Road around the T-Mall area were similarly affected.
Some of Nairobi’s informal settlements in Eastlands equally bore the brunt of the heavy rainfall, as residents woke up to waterlogged houses.
During the spot-check, The Saturday Standard observed several houses in Mukuru Kwa Reuben marooned in waters mixed with sewage.
“It has been like this for a while, and nothing has been done,” one of the victims who did not want to be mentioned told this publication.