Since October 2019, Kenya has been experiencing ravaging floods, displacing over 20,000 people. The same natural phenomena is responsible for Australia’s raging bush fires. The cause of this is what scientists aptly call the Indian Ocean Dipole. It is the warming of one side of the Indian Ocean, The Western Side near East Africa, and the cooling of the Eastern Side near Australia. The hot air from the eastern cooler side moves to the western side making the vapors condense into heavy rains.

The message is that if the effects of climate change were not visible before, now they are loud and clear. As the ocean warms up due to global warming, these flood cycles will be more common. Kenya as a country is currently unprepared to face off this cycle, with people living in flood prone areas moving to higher grounds. All the while, the influx of such large volumes of water is relatively untapped with water shortages being common in other parts of the country.

The data that is being collected on this episode of floods mirrors the data being collected as Australia burns on the eastern  side of the world. In spite of this dire situation, this is could also be an avenue for harvesting rain water from the floods for drier times. With the pre-existing knowledge from meteorological departments, Kenya can anticipate climate change and other mitigate or adapt the forthcoming effects while adapting to it.

As a new decade begins, the ever present reality of how powerful a force mother nature is dawns on us. It is definitely time we took notice and appreciated our environment .