An elephant research centre run by Oxford scientists has been destroyed by flooding in Kenya.

Members of the Oxford team based in the Samburu National Reserve are all reported to be safe after floods surged through their camp last week.

But the flooding completely destroyed the Save the Elephants (STE) research facility, destroying data, equipment and months of groundbreaking work on the behaviour of elephants.

The unexpected flooding of the Ewaso Ng’iro River resulted in the deaths of a number of villagers further down the river.

But the Oxford researchers said they were lucky to escape with their lives, managing to drive to safety within seconds of the waters surging through the facility.

Lucy King, an Oxford University PhD student, who was working at the facility, said she saw a “wall of water akin to a Tsunami”, which destroyed first the safari camp and then, two hours later, the Save the Elephants research facility.

She said: “We are all devastated to have lost our research camp that had only just been renovated.

“Our staff are still stuck there and sifting through the mud trying to salvage what they can.

“Incredibly, no staff were hurt or injured, and the majority of wildlife, including the elephant population, was also not harmed bythe deluge.”

Staff have been salvaging what remained of computers, key research data and facilities.

She said: “We have quite an Oxford team — Prof Fritz Vollrath, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton, myself and Shivani Bhalla all from the zoology department.

“Our team has done well to try to salvage what they can from the bushes and have even discovered a couple of our tents wrapped around trees downstream.

“We are washing them to see if they are re-usable. All our tents and living area have been destroyed.

“The mud and sand that has deposited itself in our camp is extraordinary.

“There are massive tree trunks lodged in the ground that were swept in from upstream.

“Yesterday a man was swept into our camp from the river and we thought he was dead but our staff pulled him out and pressed the water out of his chest and discovered he was alive.

“It turned out that he was looting a lodge upstream from us and got chased by the guards, jumped in the river and got swept away.

“He rested for an hour, rehydrated himself and then dashed off.

“We have also had dead camels swept into our camp and a whole tree floated downstream with a troop of live baboons having a ride in the branches.”

The immediate relief process has already begun, with blankets and water flown in by STE founder Dr Douglas-Hamilton, with assistance coming from the British army, which has been helping airlift people to safety and bring additional supplies.

She said the Oxford team had set up a ‘refugee camp’ on a hill behind their ruined camp with the team determined that the elephant research should continue.

She said: “We now think this will be a good place to re-build, perhaps with platforms and decking to set up our tents above the flood line.

“There is a great view from there and our study elephants come around the hill in the evening, so we will feel very at home in the new site.”

With the damage being put at an estimated £80,000, a fundraising appeal has been launched. Contributions can be made at savetheelephants.org