Hundreds left homeless after heavy downpour

Hundreds left homeless after heavy downpour

Hundreds of people have been left homeless in Iganga and Bugweri districts after their house roofs were blown off on Sunday due to a heavy downpour.

The heavy falls, characterized by hail stones and strong winds closely lasted for five hours and left over 45 families stranded with nowhere to sleep.

The worst affected villages were Bukyaye, Butama, Bufutula in Nakalama sub county, Iganga plus Naigomba,Igogero and Bulula in Bugweri district.

Area local leaders say that affected families are in urgent need of food, shelter and clothing.

The Iganga LC 5 chairman, Patrick Kayemba said the district disaster committee will soon convene a meeting to establish the extent of the damage caused by the rain.

He said the district had temporarily halted renovation of all the roads in the district to avoid further damages as a result of the heavy rains.

"We are waiting for the rains to cease so that we commence with the renovation work on roads," he said.

Awali Mukuna, the LC 2 vice chairman, Nakalama parish said most of the affected families are currently residing in mosques, schools and within the neighborhood adding that over 100 acres of banana, cassava and maize plantations were also destroyed.

Peter Musoga, one of the affected people revealed that he suddenly heard a loud bang on the roof only to discover that the roof had been swept off.

According to Musoga, he managed to flee his two infant children to the neighborhood and went back in a bid to rescue some of his things from being soaked into water.

"By the time I went back my television set, mattress, beddings had all been destroyed and soaked in the water," he said.

Kigulu north, member of parliament, Andrew Kaluya said he was yet to visit the area to establish the exact number of people affected after the heavy rain.

The LC 3 chairman Igombe Sub County, Mohamed Kakaire said this was the third disaster to hit the area since last year.

He noted that it would have been more disastrous if it had rained during late night hours.

He said majority of the residents took refuge in neighboring mosques, schools immediately it started raining for fear their houses would be blown down as a result of the heavy downpour.

The chief administrative officer (CAO), Bugweri Johnathan urged the government and relevant non-governmental organisations to come out and rescue the affected people saying they are in need of food, shelter and clothing.