Two hospitalized after 12-hour Busia downpour
Police officers look at a car in which a special hire driver, Jackson Bwire Simwero, was injured by iron sheets which were blown off a houses during hailstorm in Busia on September 22, 2022. PHOTO/DAVID AWORI
What you need to know:
- Parts of Uganda have been devastated by rains that have killed nearly 40 people in the country since year start.
Two people including a child are hospitalized at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital following heavy rains, characterized by hailstones, which destroyed several acres of crops and blew off rooftops in five Sub-counties of Busia District.
Mr Jackson Bwire Simwero, a special hire driver in Busia Town, was admitted after a flying object which hit his car ricocheted and struck him in the chest while a six-year-old child suffered a fractured hand after a brick from the wall of their collapsing house hit him.
The rain that lasted nearly 12 hours, left heaps of hailstones and ruined crops in its wake, with the worst-hit areas being Mawero East ‘B’ and Sofia ‘B’ Villages in Eastern Division, Alupe, Amagoro and Akipeneti Villages in Buteba Sub County, Busuwu and Mundaya Villages in Sikuda Sub County and Buwuma Village in Dabani Sub County.
Mawero East ‘B’ Village LC1 Ms Faith Siketa said the rain started after 3pm on Thursday.
“We first saw a dark cloud forming on the Kenyan side and shortly after, heavy wind started blowing which was followed by heavy rain and hailstones,” Ms Siketa who reportedly locked herself and the children in the house, said.
Ms Scovia Kiriza, a resident of the same village, said she was sleeping when the rooftop of her semi-permanent house was blown off.
Mr Stephen Mugeni Wasike, the Busia district LCV chairman said his office received information of the storm and teams were on the ground compiling a detailed report.
“Hundreds of acres of crops, mostly maize, beans, bananas and cassava, were destroyed, especially in Mawero and parts of Buteba, Sofia and Sikuda,” he told Monitor on Friday.
Mr Jimmy Ngolobe, the Busia district environment officer, said the second planting season usually suffers challenges of adverse weather conditions characterised by either rainstorms, drought or below average rains.
Mr Kassim Muduku, who had his garden of maize and beans destroyed, said he had not witnessed such magnitude of rains before, adding that since last year, he has been buying food in the market to provide for his family-of-five, while expecting to harvest his crops after a few months.
Parts of Uganda have been devastated by rains that have killed nearly 40 people in the country since year start, according to official data.
