Mbale caught in the grip of climate crisis

Communities hit by floods in Mbale City face an uncertain future amid heavy rainfall forecasts from the weatherman for the sub-region. By Friday, as the floodwaters subsided, locals had now turned the attention to repairing the damage wrought by the floods.

The devastating floods, which left 29 dead and others missing, were triggered after rivers such as Nabuyonga, Namatala, Nashibiso and Napwoli burst their banks shortly after a heavy downpour that spanned 10 hours on Sunday.

Local leaders have partly blamed the floods, the first of their kind in the middle of the city, to poor physical planning and corruption.

“The physical plan of the city has been mismanaged and builders have built houses where water was supposed to pass,” Mr John Maango Situma, an elder, said.

Mr Situma said in the past, the city never experienced floods because construction of buildings was done in line with urban authorities laws and regulation.

“Leaders should stop issuing permits, land titles and house plans to be constructed on water ways because when the rivers flood, they will take their course,” he said.

During a Friday national address, President Museveni said the Cabinet will meet tomorrow to thrash out a riot act on environment degradation. After a fact-finding visit last weekend, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja came to the conclusion that “this disaster is due to environmental degradation.”

Many buildings in Mbale City have been built on the banks of Nabuyonga and Namatala rivers. Most of those houses were submerged on the fateful night. Other structures have shot up on road reserves, sewerage lines, street alleys and also in wetlands in areas of Doko, Nabitiri, Namakwekwe, Namatala, Mutoto, Mooni, South Central, IUIU, Nambijjo and Booma.