Info

Item author
Louise Smith
Item Created
27 Sep 2009
Photo taken on
22 May 2009 8:53 am

Special clothes are necessary to cross the road after one of the typical Nairobi heavy rains


Context of the observation

A man wearing rubber boots walks straight through a 10 cm deep flood of rainwater which has taken over a whole intersection. Sidewalks

on the left hand side of the street are completely flooded over. Cars are waiting on the right side, driving straight through the

water.

 

Bad drainage of the streets, and non-absorbant soil are obvious culprits in this situation. The water that has collected here would not be

considered a “real” flood as it occurs almost every time it rains. For those pedestrians prepared for the situation (as this man was) mobility

just takes longer, and is messier than regular, but for those unprepared pedestrians, it means waiting until the flood has subsided,

maneuvring over small islands of land, or risking illness and going straight through. For cars it means a complete traffic jam.

Location


 

1 Question & 0 Responses

How do people walking to work react to rain as one potential and temporary barrier to mobility?

Louise Smith
27 Sep 2009