Families in need of help after floods wreak havoc

NAMISINDWA/BUTALEJA. Residents in Bugisu Sub-region are living in dire conditions following incessant floods that have left more than 300 houses submerged.

Several people, who have been left homeless, have sought refuge in trading centres, places of worship and makeshift shelters.
Although there are no deaths registered, government is yet to intervene. However, government delayed intervention has sparked off rage among the communities who feel abandoned.

Mr Stephen Nawangala, one of the affected residents and a village chairperson, says: “We are finding it hard to live now because our houses and other properties have been destroyed.”

Mr John Masaba, another resident, appealed to government to pay attention to their plight.
“We have been tremendously affected but our leaders have not intervened yet. We are wondering why we have been abandoned,” he says.
The Himutu Sub-county NRM chairperson, Mr Wilson Mugole, says the affected families need urgent help.
However, State Minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, confirms knowledge of the situation and says government will soon send relief to the victims.

“As government we will intervene basing on what is most immediate. However, we need to assess and ascertain the predicament from the informed scientific point of view so that we can come up with permanent solution,” he says.
The floods caused by heavy rain that have been pounding Mt Elgon sub-region for the past two months, have also destroyed crop gardens such as cassava, potatoes, beans, maize, groundnuts and livestock leaving many farmers counting losses.

Other areas
According to leaders of Busoba and Bukyiende Sub-counties in Mbale District, household items such as beddings, clothes, domestic birds, and animals have been washed away.
The transport system in Tororo, Butaleja Bududa, and Bulambuli districts has been paralysed as a number of bridges have been swept away by the floods.

Last week, the Nakalama-Tirinyi- Mbale road was temporarily closed after floods washed away a section of it including a bridge near Lupada Trading Centre in Budaka District.

The Eastern region is prone to floods and landslides because of its low attitude.
Mr Stephen Wepukhulu, the LC II chairperson of Buwadyambi, says: “We first sighted openings in our gardens and cracks on roads and later it started affecting our houses. This is not the first time. In 2011, we had a similar problem on smaller magnitude and it went unnoticed because our leaders don’t take our concerns seriously.”

Ms Margaret Tsebukosi whose house sunk in the night says: “I heard noise and I thought that they were hailstorms. I woke up and realised the house was sinking; I got frightened and asked my family members to move out the house. We survived narrowly.”
The Namisindwa District chairperson, Mr George William Wapuwa, reveals that residents are spending sleepless nights because they are worried of their safety.

He has also appealed to government to immediately resettle them to safer areas.
Mr Francis Alinyo, the project coordinator for Mt Elgon Tree Growing Enterprise, a non-government organisation implementing a tree planting project in the region to mitigate the effects of climate change, has asked government to dispatch scientists to the area to interpret the cause of the calamity.

“The area is being ravaged by a rare earth movement, which leaves the houses cracked, breaking and sinking into the ground. This has not been reported in Uganda.It is a new occurrence in this region and country,” he says.
Mr Alinyo says the occurrence has only been reported in Japan. He revealed that more than 500 houses have developed cracks.
Meanwhile in Butaleja businesses have closed because floods have continued to wreak havoc.
When Daily Monitor visited the area last week, the Manafwa Bridge, which was constructed in 1960s, had also been submerged.
The Mbale-Butaleja road, which is used by nearly 3,000 on a daiy basis has also become impassable.
“We use this road to transport our produce to the market but now we cannot because it is flooded,” Mr Isma Wairagala, a trader, told Daily Monitor at the weekend.

Previous incidents in Bugisu

Rice farmers in Butaleja District are stuck with their produce because the transport system has been affected.
“We are failing to get the market due to the floods, which cut off the road for close to now a month,” Mr Job Were, a farmer says.
Currently transport operators have increased fares as they have to spend many hours on the road because of the floods. For a distance of Shs5,000 taxi operators are now charging double the price.
Environmentalist however attribute the calamity to climate change caused by bad human practices.
Mr Micheal Sunday, a project officer of 10m Tree Planting Project in the Mt Elgon region, says: “Human activities have left the slopes of Mt Elgon bare with no tree to hold the soils.”

The Eastern region is prone to floods most especially during rainy seasons. In 2014, the Office of the Prime Minister and Uganda Communications Commission installed an early warning siren system at the banks of River Manafwa in Himutu Sub-county, Butaleja District to alert residents of possible floods so that they can escape before any damage.
Last month, more the 2,000 residents were displaced by landslides caused by heavy rain in Bududa Sub-county and Manafwa District. In 2011 a mudslide in Bulambuli killed about 28 people.
In 2012 March 2012, mudslides killed six people in Sironko District and June the same year another mudslide buried 18 people in Bududa District.

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