Tourist camps swept away as Kenya floods hit renowned game park

Johannesburg — Tourists were evacuated by helicopter on Wednesday from Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve as devastating flooding in the east African nation hit the renowned wildlife sanctuary. More than 14 tourist camps were flooded, with tents being swept away as the Talek river burst its banks Tuesday afternoon.

The Kenyan Red Cross said in a message posted on social media that it had rescued 36 people by air and 25 others by ground.

Tour operators said the Talek gate, one of the park's entrances, was left impassable by the floodwaters and tourists were still waiting to be evacuated by helicopter.

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Tour driver Felix Migoya told Kenya's The Standard newspaper that both tourists and local staff were forced to climb trees Tuesday night to flee the surging waters as their camps were submerged.

Meteorologists have warned that heavy rains will continue to batter the region in the coming days. Scenes of utter devastation continue to unfold as houses, schools and entire villages are swept away.

In Kenya, the death toll from weeks of flooding had reached 181 by Wednesday, according to government officials and the Red Cross, and many more people were still missing. Conservationists fear many animals have been swept away in the flooding, too.

The floods, triggered by unusually heavy seasonal rains and compounded by the El Nino weather phenomenon, have affected a vast swath of East Africa, killing dozens more people in neighboring Tanzania and at least a handful in Ethiopia.

Roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure have been swept away and the government has been criticized over slow rescue efforts.

As the water continues to rise, rescue workers with the Red Cross and the National Youth Service continued to fan out searching for bodies Wednesday as bulldozers scooped away mud and debris.

At shelters for those displaced by the floods, many people worried about loved ones still missing, last seen being washed away by the torrents.

President William Ruto, who's called those affected by the floods "victims of climate change," has ordered the military to join in the search and rescue efforts. He visited flooded areas Wednesday and promised the government would rebuild homes, but he warned residents, "rain is going to continue, and the likelihood of flooding and people losing lives is real, so we must take preventive action."

He urged anyone still in "fragile areas that are prone to landslides and flooding" to evacuate to higher ground.

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