NAIROBI -- A Kenyan member of Parliament died when his car was swept away in a swollen river as the death toll in a week of heavy rains across the country reached 19, emergency workers said Friday.

MP James Mutiso, 53, drowned late Wednesday night along with his driver and a female passenger while trying to cross the Mbakoni river about 60 kilometers southeast of the capital Nairobi, police said.

Torrential rains, flash floods and mudslides have swept much of central and western Kenya over the past week, DPA reported.

Among the deaths blamed on the storms were those of a woman and her three daughters killed Wednesday when a landslide buried their hut in Kericho, 250 kilometers northwest of the capital Nairobi.

More than 7,000 people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the storms, says the Kenyan Red Cross.

At least 53 people died across Kenya as a result of heavy rains during a four week period in April and May last year.