It's another time of the year when Kenyans are experiencing extremely heavy rains similar to the predicted El Nino rains. Early this week, there was flooding in major parts of Nairobi following heavy downpour.

Meteorological research scientists warn that East Africa countries near the equator will likely experience El Nino related rainfall during the short rains period of October to December which may cause floods, crop losses and diseases in the months to come.

El Niño occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become substantially warmer than average, as a result countries bordering Pacific ocean experience more rainfall than usual.

Although abundant rainfall may be bring much-needed relief to small-scale farmers and pastoralist in drier parts of Kenya, previous El Niño events devastated crop yields and livestock production leading to food shortages and soaring food prices across the Horn of Africa.

There are concerns that El Nino rains puts risk to Kenya and Uganda's coffee industry, excess storm rain could destroy coffee flowers and trigger development of crop funguses thus leading to coffee berry disease, while farmers may struggle to maintain weeding and pruning. Heavy rains also may bring destructive landslides.

There have been efforts by the Government and donor agencies to provide adequate resources and  create awareness in disaster preparedness associated with El Nino rains  for instance, camps have been set up to accommodate displaced people in areas prone to landslides. There are livestock vaccination programs being launched against Rift Valley fever, a mosquito-borne disease that also affects humans. The disease is likely to surge if flooding increases the standing water available for the insects to breed in. Efforts are also underway to complete dykes construction in high flood plain parts of Kenya.