Brace for heavy rain, says govt
A pupil ponders his next move after floods cut off a road to his school in Bududa District in March. Government has warned of heavy floods and landslides across the country in the coming months. Photo by Wandera Ouma
Kampala.
Weather experts have asked people living in areas susceptible to flooding to immediately vacate before heavy rain characterised by El Nino starts.
El Niño, which is a periodic climatic occurrence where waters of the eastern tropical Pacific warm to trigger potential consequences for global weather, is predicted to start late this month.
“People living in flood-prone areas such as Bwaise (a Kampala suburb), Kasese, Bududa [districts] should move to safer areas now,” said Ms Lillian Nkwenge, the public relations officer of the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA), a government agency mandated to forecast weather, early this week.
Ms Nkwenge asked people to adhere to the advisory to avoid deaths and loss of property during heavy rain. Local authorities have been advised to unblock sewerage systems and those who have been cultivating crops in wetlands to stop so as to reduce flooding.
Last month, Environment minister Ephraim Kamuntu said Bududa and Butaleja districts, the Rwenzori and Teso sub-regions will be most hit given their geographical and climatic settings. The minister warned that the season will be characterised by heavy floods, landslides, dusty winds and lightning.
Ms Nkwenge said the gravity of the anticipated rain will be the heaviest in 50 years and advised people to plant matooke, cassava, among others; crops she said can resist heavy rain.
Ms Nkwenge said a task force has been formed in the Office of the Prime Minister to prepare for the disasters and international non-governmental organisations are on board.
