A six-storey building has collapsed in a residential area of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, leaving at least 15 people injured. The incident follows days of heavy rain and floods in the area.

The building in the densely-populated Huruma neigborhood of Nairobi collapsed at around 9 p.m. local time (1800 UTC) on Friday. Kenya's KTN television station reported that at least three people were killed in the disaster.

Shortly after the building collapsed, Kenyan Red Cross said on their Twitter account that three children and one adult had been taken to Kenyatta National Hospital, adding that 150 households had been affected by the incident.

Nairobi's police chief, Japheth Koome, said rescue teams were initially delayed in reaching the scene due to huge traffic jams caused by flooded roads. Kenyan Red Cross spokeswoman Arnolda Shiundu said teams eventually reached the site, however, describing the situation as "complete chaos."

"We don't know how many people are under the rubble, but we fear there are still several of them," she said, adding that it was "too early to speak about dead people."

Due to the high demand for housing in Nairobi, some of the city's property developers have been known to bypass building regulations to cut costs and maximize profits. The Architectural Society of Kenya estimates that 50 percent of Nairobi's structures fail to meet the required building standards.

Following the collapse of eight buildings in Kenya last year, which killed at least 15 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta called for a nationwide audit of all buildings. The report by the National Construction Authority found that 58 percent of the capital's structures were unfit to live in.

(DW)