River Semliki washes away over 10 villages as it bursts its banks
NTOROKO – Following heavy rains in Ntoroko district, River Semliki burst its banks washing away 10 villages and displacing over 1000 residents.
Residents from the 10 villages of Kayanja, Kyobe, Masaka, Karugaju, Budiba, Masojo and Rukora among others all in Ntoroko district have been left homeless.
The floods did not spare crops, houses, and livestock.
The affected sub counties are Rwebisengo, Butungama, Bweramule and Rwebisengo town council which are predominantly occupied by cattle keepers, and 10 villages from these sub-counties were all submerged.
According to Dan Tusiime, a councilor representing Rwebisengo South Ward, the water has submerged their houses, washed away their gardens, left their animals lifeless and people have been left homeless.
“Most people are now homeless and have nowhere to start from. People have started seeking refuge in their neighboring relatives,” Tusiime said.
He added that the Fort Portal-Bundibugyo road has been severely affected leaving people stuck and blocking them from accessing their homes and places of work.
Annet Keneema, a mother of four, said she is helpless and has nowhere to go with her children because she lost everything.
She is crying to government to come to their rescue and provide some relief and temporally shelter where they can be water slowly calms down.
“Government should come up with a permanent solution because we suffer every season be it wet or dry,” Keneema said.
Residents want government to handle Ntoroko geographical issues with care because it is prone to both dry and wet seasons.
The district LCV chairperson, William Kasoro said they are overwhelmed and as a district they cannot handle the internally displaced people because they don’t have that capacity of erecting temporally structures.
“This is a real catastrophe because floods have displaced many people and we already have those that were displaced by the rising waters on Lake Albert in 2020. As a district, we are stuck because our budget itself is very limited,” Kasoro said.
He called upon government and other non-governmental organisations to join efforts geared towards helping the people of Ntoroko district flowing the floods.
He said appealed to the office of the prime minister to urgently send relief to the district because the situation is worsening as days go by.
https://thecooperator.news/floods-submerge-gardens-in-adjumani/
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