Nairobi — President William Ruto is currently holding a special cabinet meeting in the country.

The meeting is being held even as a multiagency operation has been scaled up countrywide.

About 169 people have been killed so far in floods that have devastated parts of Kenya in the last month, the government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said.

The number includes 45 people who died on early Monday morning after their villages were swept away near Mai Mahiu, about 60km (37 miles) from the capital, Nairobi.

The Kenya Red Cross put the death toll at 50.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, President Ruto defended his government's flood response following criticism from county governments that it was slow.

Mr Ruto said the cabinet meeting on Tuesday would discuss additional measures on flood mitigation.

Asked if there are immediate plans to declare the flooding a national disaster, President Ruto said the urgent thing was to provide the required resources to the affected areas.

The government has delayed the opening of schools across the country with more rain expected, according to forecasters.

More than 130,000 people have been displaced by the floods, with many people taking shelter in schools.