On March 3, Kenyan Assemblies of God pastor Benjamin Kogo woke up early to open his church, located 100 meters from his house in Emng’wen village on the slopes of Mount Elgon in Trans-Nzoia County, for morning prayers after a night of heavy rain. When he arrived, he found the building had collapsed during the night, the iron roof flat on the ground.
“We thought it was just normal rain,” Kogo said. “We did not know that it will cause such a damage.”
Kogo prayed with a few church members who had gathered, then called other members to inform them about the damage. They canceled the following Sunday service to allow church leaders time to look for an alternative venue. Kogo learned that Kitum Primary School, where another branch of the church often met, had also collapsed and flooded.
That Sunday, more than seven hours away in Nairobi, floods caused by heavy rains swept through the capitol, swamping several churches in the Mukuru area with several feet of water, disrupting Sunday services, and displacing 300 families from nearby homes.
Kenya’s National Police Service blamed flooding for 110 deaths across 30 of the nation’s 47 counties and the displacement of 35,000 people. The spring torrents followed a period of extreme drought in northern Kenya along the Somali border, which put 2 million people at risk of starvation.
Weather pattern changes, faulty early warning systems, and poor disaster response plans and infrastructure have left Kenyans—and other Africans—particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and made recovery slow. Some researchers attributed the record floods to wetter conditions caused by climate change and have reported that the March-to-May rainy season in East Africa has become intense and unpredictable.
Though the number of people worldwide dying from climate-related disasters has fallen, Africans are heavily impacted by these events.
In many cases, public weather forecasts remain inaccurate, leaving Kenyans distrustful of their usefulness. Some Kenyans may prefer to rely on traditional rhythms for planting crops rather than national weather forecasts or not find forecasts in their local language. Some Kenyans, especially from herding communities, prefer the advice and predictions of traditional “rain makers”—Indigenous people who claim to have the power to predict rains and droughts—over meteorologists. Kogo said he had heard predictions of heavy rain and floods on KBC, the national broadcast service, but he never took it seriously.
Failure or distrust of early warning systems leave Kenyans vulnerable. The floods and resulting landslides don’t just damage buildings; they separate communities.
“The floods scattered us,” Kogo said. “We have to walk about two kilometers to a school where we hold our prayers on Sundays.” He’s trying to keep his 80-member congregation together, but right now they can’t meet for weekday prayers—all the school classrooms are occupied.
Severe flooding has slammed other communities in eastern and southern Africa this year. In late January, Mozambique suffered the worst floods seen in decades—with at least 100 people dead and 80,000 homes destroyed. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that several weeks of intense flooding affected more than 1.3 million people in six southern African nations, including South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
In early March, Ugandan authorities warned of flash floods, landslides, and related disease outbreaks that could occur due to heavy rains in counties along its western border, near Kenya. Days later, a prayer center in Kampala posted a video showed church members sweeping flood waters out of Christ the Rock Church and requesting funds to help rebuild.
In Kenya, pastor Sammy Logiron of the Anglican Church of Kenya in Kitale said his congregation and surrounding churches are rallying around rebuilding Kogo’s church. They schedule fundraisers after Sunday services, inviting wealthy community members such as politicians and businessmen who aren’t members. Attendees drop money or other items into a large basket placed in the center of the church. Then a guest pastor gives a speech and announces his contributions while presenting cash or a check.
“We are donating food, clothes, and money to help,” Logiron told CT. “We are all affected. When your brother is in trouble, you have to give a hand.”
So far, Kogo’s church has received 10,000 Kenyan shillings (about $77 USD)—enough to by wooden poles and nails for a makeshift structure. Kogo is planning another fundraiser in his church to buy plastic chairs for church members to use during services.
Alphonse Kanga, chairman of the National Council of Churches, Nairobi region, said that when floods displace people, churches often provide shelter, food, and blankets. But when church buildings collapse, this can leave a gap for residents in need.
Kanga blamed the disasters on both climate change and the failure of government systems that focus more on politicking and raising taxes instead of environmental stewardship: “If you mismanage the earth, you have destroyed it. You have gone against the will of God.”
Churches have long championed sustainable farming practices and protection of forests from too much mining or logging. Recently, they’ve also asked the Kenyan government to invest in green energy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
Some Kenyan church leaders have blamed corruption and land grabs for the deadly floods in the country. During a March 8 press conference in Nairobi, bishop David Munyiri of the Glory Outreach Assembly church said corrupt and influential people have grabbed land meant for water drainage to build their own homes and businesses. He called on the Kenyan government to strengthen its disaster management by recovering public property and rooting out corruption.
According to a 2023 study, corruption in disaster preparedness is an international concern, often causing or worsening natural disasters worldwide. Corruption can lead to sloppy infrastructure, poor zoning enforcement, and misuse of funds intended for disaster relief. Jackson Ole Sapit, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, called on the government to better enforce laws regulating construction around drainage systems.
The Resilience Action Network Africa (RANA), an advocacy organization that addresses health and climate issues in Africa, recommended the government take control of early alert systems while also encouraging communities to focus on local risk assessment and solutions to better protect their residents.
Churches are taking action to do just that. Pastors in neighboring South Sudan have tried to bring practical solutions to communities affected by flooding. Pastor James Deng, a local evangelist in the Bentiu region, told National Catholic Reporter, “People are not living in their homes, their crops are destroyed, and there is looming starvation.”
Deng said local churches are constructing dikes to safeguard residents whose lives might be endangered by flooding. Â
On the slopes of Mount Elgon in Kenya, Kogo and his members now meet in a semipermanent building made of wooden poles and clay. Kogo said they are recycling iron sheets from the collapsed church and hope eventually to buy land on a site with higher terrain for a more permanent church home.
Members of the church are now digging terraces to collect and redirect future rainwaters that rush down from the hills. They are also planting indigenous trees along riverbanks to protect the soil from erosion. Kogo said environmental experts have advised them not to graze their animals near the water sources, because they destroy the soil. Meanwhile, the county government has provided seeds and fertilizer to those whose fields were washed out by the floods.
“It is sad [that we lost the church], but again we thank God that none of our members lost a life,” Kogo said.
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