Kisumu residents living in flood prone areas have been advised to move to higher ground to avert disasters.
County Commissioner John Elungata said they have mapped out the areas and have set up humanitarian centres to mitigate effects of El-Nino rains.
Speaking to the press at his office on Sunday, Elungata told residents living along river banks, especially Nyando, to move to the evacuation centres.
“We have more than 25 evacuation centres spread across the seven sub counties that those in flood prone areas should move to,” Elungata said.
He said the ongoing rains might cause the rivers to burst banks and lead to flooding.
“We are happy the county government has opened up various canals to ease water flow in flood prone areas,” he added.
Elungata told the residents to relocate from the flood prone areas saying it will be disastrous to try to wait for the river to burst its banks before trying to move away.
He said Red Cross, county and the national governments have identified the higher grounds in various sub counties for the residents to move to for safety.
The areas likely to be affected by the floods include Nyando, Muhoroni, Kisumu West, Kisumu East and Kisumu central.
Elungata said a team of 40 people from various departments including Red Cross, police and health providers have been trained on quick response.
He added that medicines, food, nets and tents are already in place to aid those affected by floods.
He directed the chiefs and their assistants to carry door to door mobilisation to evacuate the residents from the areas.
Elungata appealed to the administrators to help in registering those genuinely affected for easy distribution of food items.
This comes as residents urged the government to seek a long term and permanent solution to the flooding problem by constructing dykes along the river's banks.