Nyamwamba floods threaten Kasese residents again

KASESE – River Nyamwamba in Kasese district yet again burst its banks last week, washing away crops, houses, and bridges, among other infrastructure on top of displacing thousands of people in the area.

The recent incident was on Thursday morning when the river burst its banks, cutting off the road from Kilembe hence blocking people from accessing Kasese town.

This follows the incident that happened in April which left thousands of people displaced.

The continued floods are rendering people of Kasese homeless as they occur at least twice every year since 2014.

The most affected areas include Bulembia and Nyamwamba divisions in Kasese municipality.

Peter Bwambale a resident of Kilembe said the behavior of Nyamwamba river had never been predicted and Thursday’s incident was a sign of deadly floods mainly in Bulembia and Nyamwamba divisions.

“Nyamwamba floods are unpredictable because the river floods anytime whether there is rain or not. This puts the lives of people at stake,” Bwambale said.

Christine Keneema, a resident of Congo-quarter in Bulembia division said government should fulfill its promise of fully desilting of the river because if it is not done floods, will continue to destroy people’s property and displacing them.

Richard Bomera, the chairperson Bulembia division emphasised the need to expedite the desilting of river Nyamwamba and construct strong gabions that can arrest the flooding.

“The only good thing is that the current premises of Kilembe Mines Hospital have not been affected, otherwise we decided that the schools close as a precautionary measure,” he said.

He added that five schools were affected by the closure to curtail more damage that may come with the loss of lives.

Last year, government embarked on de-silting River Nyamwamba and the exercise is being undertaken by Ambitious Construction Company with activities covering a distance of 5.4 kilometres along three major hotspots.

The exercise is an emergency mitigation measure against critical damage to infrastructure and loss of livelihood whenever the river floods.

The contractor is working on the identified areas of Masule, Kynjuki, Kyanjuki camp, Namuhuga and Kyonjojo.

Meanwhile, rivers Sebwe and Mubuku have also this week burst their banks destroying property, washing away crops, and killing animals.

Repeated floods

For the last eight years, Kasese district has been experiencing back-to-back floods during the rainy month of May, leaving scores dead, properties destroyed and thousands displaced.

Some people living in hilly areas have continued to cultivate using poor farming methods, which have made the area prone to disasters.

In May 2020, five rivers namely: Nyamwamba, Mubuku, Lhuburiba, Nyamugasani, and Sebwe burst their banks affecting 11 sub-counties and three divisions in Kasese district.

Most of the rivers in the district originate from Mt. Rwenzori and empty into the two drainage basins of lakes George and Edward.

https://thecooperator.news/kasese-residents-lose-property-as-river-nyamwamba-bursts-banks-again/

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