Dam bursts in Kenya, killing 44, smashing hundreds of homes

At least 44 people were dead and another 40 missing Thursday after a dam swollen by weeks of rains burst in Kenya’s Rift Valley, sweeping away hundreds of homes and sending people fleeing, officials said. At least 20 of the dead were children.

The bursting of the Patel Dam in Nakuru County on Wednesday night was the deadliest incident yet in the seasonal rains that have killed more than 170 people in Kenya since March.