Tuesday, October 3, 2023 – Kenyans are now at sea after the Kenya Meteorological Department issued conflicting statements about the expected El Nino rains.
Met Director David Gikungu differed with his Assistant about the possibility of having El Nino rains.
While Gikungu has maintained that Kenya will experience El Nino between October and December, his Assistant, David Koros, has dismissed the El Nino rains phenomenon, saying Kenya will not have El Nino but enhanced rainfall.
Gikungu insisted that the upcoming enhanced rainfall, to start in the second week of October, will be accompanied by rising temperatures and high seas making it an El Nino.
“That is something I would like to debunk from the beginning of this show. The El Nino is with us. If there is going to be a change, you will hear it from me first,” he explained.
“We have given the forecast, the El Nino is with us, and the story about there being no El Nino and rainfall just being enhanced, there is misinformation somewhere.”
He further explained that no two phenomena are identical but insisted that the effects of the upcoming El Nino will be intense.
“No two El Nino events are the same. It is okay to compare with the (1998) El Nino with all devastation that it caused but they are never the same. There have been several over the years,” he added.
“In Western Kenya where it has been raining in September, we expect that to continue until when we expect El Nino to start. The second week of October. We expect that to continue into December. There is a likelihood of getting to January with heavy rainfall. Peak of the event is November.”
However, Koros insisted that the upcoming phenomena were not El Nino, basing his argument on projections the department released on Monday.
“It is not as such El Nino rains, those drivers are enhancing the rainfall. It is trying to improve what was there. What we are seeing is enhanced rainfall compared to what was there. It is not El Nino, it is enhanced rainfall,” he stated.
This comes even as the government has set aside billions in preparations for the upcoming El Nino rains with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua having started spending the money on meetings.
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