Floods cause crop loss, homelessness in Ugandan district

by Steven Ariong

At least 300 families in Namalu Sub-county in Uganda's Nakapiripirit District have been displaced and crops destroyed following torrential rainfall that left the area flooded on November 24.

An estimated 50 hectares of cassava gardens, green grams, potatoes and peas in Namalu Sub-county were totally destroyed by floods.

Ms Lucy Nakut of Morugajore village said seven hectares of her cassava gardens in Okudud village were totally destroyed and her hut and chicken were washed away by water torrents. She has relocated with her three children.

Mr Mark Logiroi, another victim, said he has always had plenty of food but the floods, he said, will force him to begin begging. “What I had harvested and stored in my granary and what I was expecting to harvest have been destroyed and I don’t know where to start from,” he said.

Mr Simon Lemukol, the LC3 chairperson of Namalu Sub-county, described the aftermath of the floods in the area as a total loss to the families of Namalu. He said residents of Namalu have never experience such floods.

“We used to have heavy rains and floods but not of this kind, which hits for a single day and displaces a big number of people like this,” Mr Lemukol said. He appealed to government for relief material to the affected families, and urged that the families should be supported to embark on fresh farming if they are to cope with the loss.

Former Nakapiripirit chairperson John Nangiro appealed to government to provide food and planting materials to help the affected families to cope. He said transport in the area has also been affected by the floods since calvats have been washed away.

Two months ago, torrential rains that battered eastern Uganda for days left Bulambuli, Kween, Kapchorwa, Butaleja, Bukedea and Amuria districts submerged, with the residents counting the cost and relying on relief. The floods also ravaged road networks linking Sironko, Bulambuli, Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Kotido districts.

The Monitor