On Iain Douglas-Hamilton's blog on Facebook today:

Today we woke up to reports from our guys at the research centre that Samburu is under water! The whole of Samburu is flooded! All our tents have been washed away! Our research camp as we know it is gone! Luckily all our guys are safe but hanging from trees and at hilltops waiting to be rescued by helicopter! Oria’s c...amp – Elephant Watch – has not been spared either! She is currently relocating her wagenis to safer grounds. Iain has flown to Samburu accompanied by Wainaina and Onesmas to assess the damage and take some supplies (ironically the guys up there are dehydrated although they are surrounded by floods!) – water, food, blankets, brollies, name it! Partners, colleagues, and friends have come together to help as much as possible – Lewa is evacuating with helicopters and offering accommodation, Tropic Air is offering water and other supplies, The British Army has stepped in too, and many others. We are still getting updates from Samburu and will post these as they come in...

The Nation today reports that "three of the lodges – Samburu-Serena, Intrepid and Larsen Lodges – were (also) submerged."

Jan, what about the animals?

Latest from the ground in Samburu:
There are no confirmed reports of missing people.
All tourists, visitors & staff were evacuated to higher ground/moved away from the area.
Animals were affected as well with sightings of an elephant being carried away by the currents.
90% of the camps/lodges were affected including Serena, intrepids, Sentirm, Larsens, Elephant Bedroom & Elephant Watch.
The only lodges unaffected at this time are the Sarova Shaba, Buffalo Springs Simba Lodge and Samburu Sopa.

The rains have been expected since last year - such flooding should have been expected. However, there seem to be no government plans to avoid such a situation. The country needs to conserve water. The El Nino season is an ideal time to harvest water - i wonder what the Kenyan government is doing about this.

Shivani's note from www.ewasolions.org states:

Virtually no wildlife has been seen in the reserve since the floods. Many drowned dik dik have been found. Small and young animals were unable to escape the flash floods or have died of exposure, while many larger animals like elephants have disappeared; presumably they’ve gone up into the hills.

We are very concerned for the lions, several of whom had young cubs and were last seen close to the river. We will keep you updated.

Please help Samburu. We are collecting food and shelter items as well as donations for a relief effort. Many people are now homeless and without food and clean water. To help, please donate through this blog. If you are in Nairobi and want to donate food and other goods, call Paul at 0722454494 or paul at ewasolions.org Thank you!

To see pictures of the flooding go to:
http://ewasolions.wildlifedirect.org/2010/03/05/photos-of-samburu-flood/

As far as I know and have been told no tourists or locals have been lost or un accounted for.
The Kenyan Army, Royal Airforce and KWS have been helping to get tourists out using helicopters as the visibility was good.

A lot of damage to some camps and NGO set ups.

Unfortunately as you have stated - smaller animals suffer from this.
From no water to floods......