In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, streets have turned into rivers as a senior official said flooding had “reached extreme proportions”.
Heavy rains have hit Kenya in recent days, causing widespread devastation.
According to the United Nations, at least 32 people have lost their lives and more than 40,000 have been forced to flee their homes due to the rain and flooding.
Edwin Sifunawho oversees Nairobi County, posted footage shows an entire neighborhood flooded.
In the clip, residents can be seen trapped on the roofs of their homes.
“The situation in Nairobi has escalated to an extreme level. Despite all its efforts, the district government is clearly overwhelmed. We must mobilize all national emergency services to save lives,” he said.
Hundreds more people in Nairobi and surrounding areas were hit by flooding after heavy rains overnight.
Local media reported that residents of the Mathare slum were forced to sleep on roofs overnight.
Major highways were inundated by floods, causing traffic jams across the country.
“The city is at a standstill because most of the streets are flooded,” Uber driver Kelvin Mwangi told AFP in Nairobi.
A five-year-old boy stranded by flooding was rescued by a police helicopter in Yatta, south of Nairobi, on Tuesday.
“The child was visibly shaken by the ordeal after being stranded for an extended period and was safely rescued and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the Kenya Red Cross said.
The rest of East Africa has also been hit by heavy rain in recent weeks.
Almost 100,000 people were displaced in Burundi and at least 58 people died in Tanzania.
One of the biggest drivers of heavy rainfall in East Africa is the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).
The IOD – often referred to as the “Indian Niño” because of its similarity to its Pacific equivalent – refers to the difference in sea surface temperatures in opposite parts of the Indian Ocean.
During a positive phase, the water in the western Indian Ocean is much warmer than normal and this can lead to heavier rain regardless of El Niño.
However, when a positive IOD and an El Niño occur at the same time, like last year, rainfall in East Africa can become extreme.
One of the strongest positive IOD patterns ever coincided with one of the strongest El Niño patterns in 1997 and 1998, during which severe flooding was reported. These caused more than 6,000 deaths in five countries in the region.
Additional reporting by Chris Fawkes