Nairobi County has hauled more than 100,000 tonnes of garbage in just one month, as it races to reduce flood risks before the El Niño rains arrive. Governor Johnson Sakaja said the drive has already made a difference in several flood hotspots across the city.
According to the governor, the clean-up involves clearing blocked drainage systems, pulling waste out of rivers and streams, and restoring the waterways that have been choked over the years.
The county now collects about 3,200 tonnes of garbage every day, and much of that work is being done by the Green Army. Their job is to keep the streets clean and stop rubbish from clogging drains, which is one of the main reasons water floods the roads whenever it rains heavily.
Sakaja said the county's plan is built around six main interventions covering drainage, waste management, public awareness, and emergency response. The first one focuses on opening up the major rivers again.
Crews are desilting and dredging the waterways, deepening them where needed, and reclaiming the land along riverbanks so that water has room to flow. In places where illegal dumping had blocked river channels, the teams have been clearing them out so the rivers are less likely to burst their banks.
The governor also said the county is paying special attention to people who live in high-risk flood zones, especially those who have built homes in riparian reserves and other low-lying areas that flood easily.
He urged such residents to cooperate with authorities if they need to move to safer places. Nobody likes being asked to leave their home, but Sakaja's message was that relocation may be the only way to keep families safe when the heavy rains come.
Other parts of the plan include regular garbage collection, public awareness campaigns, and better teamwork between agencies. Through Nairobi's six-borough system, the county is going into neighbourhoods to teach residents about flood risks, basic safety precautions, and what to do during an emergency.
Authorities are also identifying flood-prone areas, strengthening community disaster response teams, and getting national agencies to coordinate drainage work, evacuations, and rescue operations. The last intervention involves training emergency response teams and running simulation exercises to test how ready they really are.
The push comes after the Kenya Meteorological Department warned that the rains could start at any time. Sakaja said the city has made good progress but admitted there is still a lot of work left to do. He said the county's teams are staying on the ground so they can respond quickly when things go wrong.
The governor also had a message for businesses and private garbage collectors. He asked them to take responsibility for keeping their own surroundings clean, warning that careless waste disposal could easily undo the good work being done by the county.
Residents were given the same reminder: stop dumping rubbish in drainage channels, because one plastic bag in the wrong place can cause a flood on the next street.
With the rains expected soon, the county says it will keep up its drainage clearing, river restoration, and waste management work. For many Nairobians, the coming weeks will show whether these efforts can keep the next downpour from turning into another disaster.
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