KENYA’S government began bulldozing homes built in flood-prone areas today and promising evicted families the equivalent of £60 to relocate after a deadline passed to evacuate amid deadly rains.

In the capital Nairobi a bulldozer ripped through iron-sheet walls as people watched in despair. Security forces with guns and batons stood guard and fired tear gas at some residents.

The government last week told thousands of people living near rivers, dams and other flood-prone areas to vacate as heavy rains that have left 238 people dead in recent weeks continue to pound.

Most of those whose houses are demolished say they do not know where to go, even though the government claims they were notified about options.

Human Rights Watch has accused the government of an inadequate response.

President William Ruto, who visited the vast Mathare informal settlement along the Nairobi River on Monday, said those whose houses had been demolished would be given 10,000 Kenyan shillings (£60) to help them resettle elsewhere. The sum is about half the median monthly wage.

Three people, including two children, have died in Mathare after being run over by bulldozers in the demolitions — one before the president’s visit and two after it — according to civil society groups.

The president has declared Friday a public holiday to mourn the 238 people who have died due to ongoing flooding.

Mr Ruto said on Wednesday that the day will be observed by national tree planting activities to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Kenya, along with other parts of East Africa, have been overwhelmed by floods. More than 235,000 people are displaced and living in dozens of camps.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga last week warned the government against demolishing more houses without a resettlement plan in place.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki on Tuesday reiterated an evacuation order to 200 families living in the Kijabe area an hours’s drive from Nairobi, where about 60 people were killed and houses were swept away when water broke through a blocked railway tunnel last week.

That disaster prompted the government’s evacuation order. It is not clear how many homes across Kenya have been demolished since then.

Meanwhile, Kenya’s Cabinet has said that water levels in the country’s two major hydroelectric dams — Masinga and Kiambere — have risen to “historic levels,” with people living downstream on the Tana River told to leave.