Floods: Tororo-Busia road closed

By Faustine Odeke    

Traffic along Tororo-Busia murrum road via Osukuru and Butesa sub counties has been suspended after the floods cut of a section of the road near river Malaba Bridge.

A gully has developed across the road forcing travelers to use the distant Tororo- Busitema- Busia to connect within the two districts.

Several other parts of Tororo district have been cut off after culverts and bridges were washed away.

The Uganda National roads authority Tororo station engineer Chris Opuch said some emergency repairs are being done along Iyolwa-Nambogo road that was closed to the traffic three-weeks ago after the bridge linking Iyolwa to Tororo town was washed away.

Opuch said the situation along Tororo- Busia road is being handled by the contractor working on the 93.3 kilometer Tororo-Busia-Majanji, Lumino- Namayingo-Musita road.

Residents living along the river Malaba have also been forced to uproot their food crops after gardens have been submerged by the floods with some houses collapsing.

Amoni 'A' village chairman in Malaba town council Arnold Ebbu said about 80 families in his village are seriously affected by the disaster.

Flooded house buried five-year-old in Butaleja

A five-year-old child was on Monday killed in Buhadya village Nawajonfu sub county Butaleja district after the house he was sleeping in collapsed after being soaked by the floods.

The area district councilor Geoffrey Mutiwa said over 5000 people in Bingo and Bugalo parishes have been affected by the ranging water after river Manafwa burst its banks at Mpologoma village.

Mutiwa said a bridge at Nakwiga swamp has also been destroyed cutting off the road from Busolwe Township to Butaleja district headquarters and Mbale district.

Similarly the road from Butiru in Manafwa district to Tororo district has also been cut off affecting several farmers who transport their matoke and other agricultural products to Malaba, Tororo and Busia towns.

Eric Otabong Odele of Buchema village Butiru Sub County said farmers are now stranded with their produce due to lack of alternative routes to the market in Tororo.