The Tuesday mudslide coming after a heavy downpour in Kasese district’s Rukooki sub-county has left 16 people confirmed dead as rescue workers continue to look for bodies under the debris.
Some six people were admitted to St Paul’s Health Center IV within the Municipality, as the rains continued to fall.
A majority of the dead are women and children and those who sustained injuries and are now in hospital are five juveniles and one adult.
The Red Cross rescue team, local authorities and community responders are in Kasika village, in Rukooki working to rescue survivors, taking them temporarily to higher ground to avoid more deaths.
Kasese has suffered incessant floods each year for the last seven years, mostly in the month of May, officials said. Lives are often lost whenever landslides break off the hilly terrain, many times covering villages and the homes therein.
The Member of Parliament for Busongora County, Gideon Thembo-Mujungu was on the ground to help coordinate the rescue efforts and save as many lives as possible. Much property has also been lost.
“Local leaders and the Red Cross have managed to rescue some people and retrieved the bodies. We have created a camp at Kogere Archdeaconry where the displaced people will be relocated to. Government has provided 200 tarpaulins ,” Mujungu told the Cooperator.
Data was now being collected to help inform better that rescue operation and government officials mustered whatever resources they could to ease the pain.
They were trying to establish exactly how many had been displaced, those admitted to hospital and property lost, Mujungu said.
So far, some 10,500 kg of maize meal and 5,200 kg of beans had arrived from the Prime Minister’s office and more was expected.
At least 1,000 people are supposed to be relocated from their homes to safer hills.
“The President has directed that each life lost should be compensated with Shs 5 mln and each injured person should receive Shs 1 mln to cover the hospital bills,” the MP said.
Mujungu appealed to residents to stop cutting down trees, which weakens the soil leading to massive landslides when it rains heavily.
“This would not have happened if we had not betrayed nature. We have degraded the environment and we are now facing the impact,” he said.
He promised to sponsor an ordinance in the District Council to have trees planted on the slopes of the mountain and end uncontrolled soil erosion.
Last month two bodies of flood victims were retrieved from rivers Nyamwamba and Dunguliha. One was Linas Masereka, a 17-year-old Senior One student at Kilembe Secondary School.
In 2020, eight people died in floods and mudslides that hit parts of Kasese District on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] after River Thaku burst its banks.
Red Cross officials said from the scene, they are searching for one juvenile still missing as response action teams continue to offer rescue services alongside local authorities and community responders.
Simon Buhaka, the LC I Chairman for Kasika village — the worst hit — said most homesteads were washed away at around 3 am as villagers slept.
Kasese District Deputy Resident Commissioner, Lt Maate Magwara said the bodies were retrieved from the debris of demolished houses.
Dr Samson Karabyo said from St Paul’s Health Centre IV they rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call from Kasika. They were able to rescue some survivors that night.
“Of the people we admitted at the hospital, five are children and the sixth is an old man who got severe injuries in the chest. We referred him to Kilembe Mines Hospital,” the medic said.
The admitted children are improving steadily but one 13-year-old female sustained severe injuries in the cervical area and is to do an X-ray.
The Kasese floods came barely a week after two people were confirmed dead following another mudslide in the neighboring Bundibugyo District last Friday.
The cause is loose soils after trees are cut off the hillsides for firewood. Many residents around the hills continue to cut down trees, oblivious to the danger the act poses.
Most of the rivers in the district originate from Rwenzori Mountain and empty into the two drainage basins of Lakes George and Edward.
The District Senior Planner, Joseph Isingoma, warned people to be careful in the month of May, saying most rivers have started to experience an increase in water volumes.
https://thecooperator.news/mbale-city-floods-death-toll-rises-to-17/
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