People leave their homes due to flooding from parts of Lake Kyoga

Hundreds of people in Nakasongola District have been forced to leave their homes due to flooding from parts of Lake Kyoga.

The most affected are the villages of Kapala, Busoni, Sukurio, Musenyi and Moone in Katuba parish, Nabiswera Sub-county.

Nabiswera Sub-county chairman David Sserubombe said that the lake has burst its banks after several days of heavy rain, which has also destroyed hundreds of acres of gardens.

He further revealed that the water levels have moved up to a metre in land, raising concern that this could be a permanent trend.

“The affected areas are not far from the lake; that is the effect of encroaching into the lakeshores,” he said on Tuesday.

“As leaders, we are not going to leave them to suffer. We shall find a place to resettle them.”

Mr Sserubombe appealed to government to  and insecticide treated nets to the affected households.

“Water is coming out of the lake every day and so far many people have run away from their homes. Some are running to their relatives, others are sleeping under trees in a dry place,” he said.

He added that the residents are at risk of cholera outbreak since drinking water has been contaminated with feaces.

He also said all the gardens in the area are flooded.

“Water which people are now accessing for home consumption is contaminated with faeces from toilets submerged by water,” he added.

Over the last three months, many shores of Lake Victoria in Kalungu, Masaka, Kalangala, Entebbe, Wakiso and Kampala have been submerged, displacing hundreds of people. The latest was Lake Victoria Serena Hotel Kigo on Sunday.

Dr Callist Tindimugaya, the water resources specialist in-charge of Lake Victoria management at the Ministry of Water and Environment, said the lake is refilling its parts where it had receded from.

“When it rains, all the rain water from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo comes into Lake Victoria and it does not come in one day. It travels through Kabale, Kagera, Ibanda, Ntungamo, Buhweju, which does not take one day,” he said, warning that encroachers should expect the water to invade them because it is reclaiming the place where it used to be.