Plan better to mitigate aftermath of heavy rains

The headlines this month have been inundated with the aftereffects of flooding. Bridges have been washed away, national examinations got delayed, and pipelines destroyed, causing water shortages. These are only but a few of the issues that have followed the heavy rain around the country.
When the meteorological centre raised the alarm about the pending heavy rain, we expressed our hope that this information would be used to prepare adequately. But it appears that this was not done as effectively as it should have been.
A week ago, the Uganda National Roads Authority reported that 10 bridges and 80 roads required rehabilitation or reconstruction. The bulk of these roads are in a sorry state because of the rain. Indeed, several roads around the city are now in a sorry state because of the rain.

A month ago, when the country experienced a few days without rain, some of these roads were patched up. A few weeks of rain later, the verdict is clear that the patching was a shoddy job.
The potholes are back and they seem to have brought their friends and relatives along. On some roads, the tarmac and dirt are in fight. So far the dirt is winning. We get to experience this victory when the sun comes out for a while and vehicles raise clouds of dust, polluting the air. The rain has, therefore, caused pollution of water sources, the air and disrupted movement of people and resources.
All these problems are not new. They have shown up in some form in previous rainy seasons. Yet we mourn and whine about them every time like they are happening for the first time.
Beyond mourning and whining though, we are also paying for not putting measures in place to ensure that they are not repeated. The effects have now reached emergency proportions, requiring a Shs20 billion response plan.

The money is meant to cater for food and non-food items, and enable farmers have access to information that will help them minimise losses brought on by heavy rain. A portion of it is also going towards rehabilitating some roads and bridges, where they have become impassable. All these are well and good, and we hope the money will do what is actually meant to do.
However, beyond this season, this is another reminder for everyone mandated to do so, to ensure that these problems don’t arise. The floods are happening because we have refused to protect the water catchment areas.
We, therefore, call on government ministries, departments and agencies, and anyone else who claims to care about the effects of adverse weather conditions to act.