Landslide, flooding risk for Bududa, Manafwa, Namisindwa districts as heavy rains pound Elgon

___________________

Heavy rainfall is being experienced across the Elgon districts of Bududa, Manafwa and Namisindwa, posing a heightened risk of landslides and flash floods, especially in already vulnerable communities, New Vision Online has heard.

Affected region Uganda Red Cross Society branch manager Patrick Omukama Kutosi says their teams remain present and engaged in the region to monitor the situation and assist where needed.

"We remain on the ground and committed to providing timely updates as the situation develops," Kutosi says.

According to Kutosi, on September 13, 2025, at about 12:15pm, Bududa experienced a heavy downpour that led to localised flooding. River Tsutsu burst its banks, diverting its natural course, and disrupting normal activity in the area.

Kutosi says there was no loss of life reported.

“The floodwaters significantly affected Bududa Corner (Buwangani town council), paralysing transport and local business operations for over five hours,” Kutosi adds.

He says the disruption was intensified due to the collapse of the Buwangani/Bududa Corner Main Bridge, which occurred eight months ago.

“This bridge was a critical link connecting Manafwa to Bududa, and its collapse has since left residents with limited access options. Currently, locals rely on a temporary footbridge, which, while helpful, becomes hazardous during periods of rainfall. An alternative motorable route exists, but it extends travel time by over 5 kilometres to reach Bududa town,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

According to Kutosi, local leaders and residents have made continued efforts to seek support in addressing the bridge issue.

Meanwhile, the Uganda Red Cross Society has been active on the ground, offering support to affected families and conducting risk assessments in disaster-prone areas, especially in light of the increased rainfall.

Initiatives by the government and CSO

In April last year, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja flagged off the exercise of relocation of households facing a high risk of landslides in the Elgon region.

This initiative, Nabbanja said, aims at mitigating the risks created by landslides and ensure the safety of vulnerable communities living in the landslide-prone areas in the Elgon sub-region.

She said the Government by April 2024 had disbursed shillings 2.76 billion for the 276 families in Bududa deemed at high risk of landslides. The money was sent through PostBank.

The relocation exercise started with the Government making a cash disbursement of 10 million being sent to individual landslide high-risk households on top of the seven million that was earlier given out by GiveDirectly, a non-governmental organisation that partnered with government.

"We want to ensure that these people relocate to safer areas especially those on cliffs and on top of the dangerous places to avoid a re-occurrence of the past incidents where we lost innocent lives," said Nabbanja.

Nabbanja assured the people of Elgon that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government was committed to saving their lives and property.

The Premier tasked the beneficiaries to utilise the money appropriately and they relocate, because there will be no second chance for anyone who remains behind.

"All households in landslide high-risk areas must relocate and give the land to the Government for reforestation so that we avoid landslides in the region. Whoever fails to vacate shall be forced to," Nabbanja said.

Nabbanja gave an ultimatum of 3 months for the families to prepare and vacate voluntarily or else other methods shall be applied.

"As government, we are tired of coming here to grieve after people are killed by land/mudslides. Those who will fail to voluntarily vacate shall be forced to do so," cautioned Nabbanja.

She said that the government will support them with transport to relocate to their new places.

The Prime Minister also urged the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development to prioritise allocating funds to the Ministry pf Relief Disaster Preparedness and Refugees to enhance its capacity to promptly respond to natural emergencies across the country.