Uganda: Floods displace thousands in capital city

(SomaliNet) After an evening downpour, thousands people were on Tuesday left homeless caused floods in Ugandan capital Kampala.

The Kawempe division LC3 chairman, Nasser Takuba said the heavy rain that lasted two hours, left over 10,000 houses flooded and property destroyed.

The floods paralysed businesses and traffic flow. Several shops and roads were closed. Construction of the Northern Bypass was also halted.

Knee-high water that burst over the Bwaise-Nsooba channel, made the Bwaise road impassable.

Motorists from the city centre were forced to use Bombo road through the Kalerwe-Mbogo route.

The resultant bumper-to-bumper jam prompted the taxi drivers to increase fares to sh2,000 from the usual sh1,000.

Bodaboda cyclists in Bwaise also took advantage of the situation to charge sh1,000 to help stranded passengers cross the flooded stretch of about 50 metres.

Takuba blamed the intensification of the floods on the Northern bypass construction works.

“Kawempe has been experiencing floods before, but the situation has worsened because the bypass contractors have blocked most of the water outlets.”

Takuba was optimistic that the floods would cease once the sh15b Kampala environmental management project rolls out to all slums in the city.-NewVision