- Flooding in Bugisu, Mbale, and Kapchorwa killed ten people on Sunday.
- The death toll went even higher on Monday with rescuers recovering 21 bodies from Mbale.
- Heavy rains come on the heels of a long drought in large parts of Uganda.
Floods caused by torrential rains in portions of eastern Uganda have killed at least 24 people, according to the government and the Uganda Red Cross.
Flooding in Bugisu, Mbale, and Kapchorwa killed ten people on Sunday, according to the state ministry in charge of relief, disaster preparedness, and refugees in the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement late on Sunday.
However, the death toll went even higher on Monday.
According to Uganda Red Cross spokesperson Irene Nakasita, rescuers have recovered 21 bodies from Mbale and three more from Kapchorwa.
She stated that a vehicle bringing relief materials was on its way to help individuals who had been displaced in the impacted areas.
The heavy rains come on the heels of a long drought in large sections of the country, which has left many areas parched and crops in fields burnt.
The eastern area of Uganda is prone to floods following heavy rains, but the entire country is vulnerable to natural calamities. In the past, heavy rains have killed a number of people.
When floods swept away homes in the country’s eastern Bududa district in 2018, more than 30 people were murdered and many more were relocated. Earlier in 2010, 80 people were murdered in Bududa by strong landslides caused by a torrential downpour, one of Uganda’s worst tragedies in recent years.
Floods and landslides have affected more than 300,000 people in Bududa and Sironko districts in eastern Uganda, as well as Bundibugyo in western Uganda, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. According to the study, an estimated 65,000 individuals have been displaced.
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