Houses submerged as floods sweep through Lukaya, Lwera

Torrential rains currently being experienced in various parts of the country have caused flooding in Lukaya Town in Kalungu District, paralysing businesses.

According to Fazil Jjingo a business operator in Lukaya Town Council, the heavy rains which have pondered the area for three consecutive days forced Katabazungu stream to burst its banks on May 1 leading to flooding in the area.

“Merchandise in different shops has been destroyed and many businesses are almost at a standstill,’’ he said.

Businesses adjacent to Uganda Cares building in Lukaya Town are the most affected and owners have been forced to relocate their goods to reduce losses.

Different residents attribute the flooding to corruption which led to illegal construction of structures that interfere with the normal flow of the stream.

‘’Lukaya is steadily developing and those constructing houses chose to encroach on the banks of the stream and this is why we are suffering now,” Sam Ssekito, a trader in the town said.

In the neighbouring Kamuwunga Village located within the vast Lwera swamp, floods have affected hundreds of households, and many have been displaced after their houses got submerged in water.

According to Ronald Ssemanda, the chairperson Kamuwunga landing site,when it started raining on Saturday morning, they thought it was the usual rain, but it continued on both Sunday and Monday –raining the whole day –forcing houses to submerge and water is all over inside residents’ houses.

Both farmers and sand miners in Lwera dug trenches in the spacious swamp that connect directly to Lake Victoria. 

“We are lucky that no death has been recorded, but the situation is likely to worsen if it continues raining in the coming days,” Ssemanda told Monitor on Tuesday.

Deus Mubiru, a resident in the area, said: “I have been here for 28 years but there weren’t such problems. We started experiencing floods in 2010 when sand mining began. We have tried to talk to the concerned authorities but we haven’t got help.”

FYI

This is the second time in four months that residents at Kamuwunga are suffering a similar disaster. In January when houses in the area got submerged in water, the affected residents relocated to safer places like Nabyewanga in Mpigi District and Lukaya Town Council.

Lwera swamp stretches about 20kms on the Kampala–Masaka Highway and is a major water catchment area that connects several rivers and wetlands in Gomba, Mpigi and Kalungu districts. The swamp drains directly into Lake Victoria.

March –June usually constitutes the first major rain season in Uganda, but weather experts recently predicted that the  rain will be destructive in some parts of the country, especially in the central region and urged the public to be alert.