Mathare residents have been affected by the flash floods that wrecked the area on May 13, 2012. Photo/STEVE WAITHANJI

A woman died and more than 300 people were left homeless after the Nairobi River burst its banks in Mathare slums on Sunday.
Three other people are fighting for their lives in hospital.
Kenya Red Cross official, Ms Wangeci Mathenge, said floods swept through the area at about 2am on Sunday.
“The number of people affected stands at 300 families at the moment,” Ms Mathenge told the Nation on Sunday.
Starehe police boss Aphoid Nyagah said an unknown number of people were missing.
“We managed to pull out the body of a woman. We are still looking for others reported missing,” Mr Nyagah said.
Ms Stella Waithera from the Kenya Red Cross said they were collecting information on the missing people from residents.
The floods were blamed on heavy rains in parts of Kiambu and Limuru as it had not rained in the area for two days.
The tragedy occurred when people were in deep sleep. The raging waters swept away houses and their contents.
“It has not rained here for three days. We believe the water came from Kiambu where it has been raining heavily,” a resident, Mr Simon Owino, said.
The floods destroyed three private schools and two churches, said Mathare 4A village chairman Silvanus Dinya.
A wall of water
Of the three people rushed to Kiambu District hospital was two-week-old Peter Onyango and his mother Elizabeth Ochieng, who were rescued from their flooded house.
Mrs Ochieng was rescued at about 5am after staying in the water for more than three hours.
“We were asleep when heavy floods hit our house and destroyed it. We hurried to rescue our children who were dead asleep. My husband went for the older children while I was left with the youngest whom I came to learn that I was able to save after I gained consciousness at the hospital,” she said.
Her husband, Mr Michael Ochieng, said: “I thought my wife had drowned after failing to see her for that long, but I thank God she was rescued.”
Mr Ochieng said he was woken up by gushing waters from the blue.
“We were deep asleep when we suddenly found ourselves in a sea of water and there was no time to think since the water came with such a force, sweeping away houses.”