Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma has called on the national government to offer more support to the county to enable it deal with the effects of the expected El Nino rains.
Ranguma said the Sh70 million set aside for disaster preparedness by the county government is insufficient.
He said Kisumu County is prone to floods and the magnitude of El Nino projected by the weather forecast is worrying.
“For the past three years, we have been able to deal with floods with merger resources but the projections we are hearing puts us in difficult situations and as a county we must seek for help,” he said.
The Governor said the chunk of the money has gone into the desilting of many river mouths that are pour water into Lake Victoria.
Speaking to the press in Kisumu on Friday while giving a report on the county preparedness to deal with El Nino, Ranguma said the national government should add more resources to the county budget.
e He announced that he will also discuss with the national government ways to permanently deal with the flood menace that has been a problem within the Nyando river belt.
Ranguma said long term measures should now be prioritised to alleviate the annual sufferings locals have been exposed to as a result of flooding occasioned by heavy rains.
“It is high time we come up with measures that will permanently address this issue so that our people will not be worrying about their life when rain starts to drop,” he said.