AT least four schools have been closed due to flooding of classrooms and latrines in Butaleja district, while gardens are water logged with crops rotting and several roads have become impassable.
Over 2,000 pupils at Doho, Namalere, Lubembe and Bugombe primary schools are faced with a double tragedy: they have become homeless and they cannot attend classes.
The district education officer said that essential scholastic materials were also destroyed by the water.
The district officials are discussing with UNICEF and Save the Children to see whether the affected pupils can be temporarily relocated to Nampologoma, Namumasa and Masulula primary schools.
Michael Wanje, the deputy head of the district disaster management committee, said the torrential rains of the past week have washed away latrines, made mud and wattle houses collapse and destroyed food crops.
He warned that famine and diseases such as cholera and malaria would break out.
“We have never seen such volume of water,” he said. “We must be seeing the impact of climate change.” He listed Nawangofu, Budumba, Busabi, Maizimasa, Namutu and Kachonga as the hardest-hit sub-counties.
Wanje lamented that Butaleja, which was a leading rice producer and a regional food basket in the past, might be reduced to living on handouts. “Most crops in the gardens have been washed away. Rice at harvesting level has gone with the floods. We expect a big famine.”
He said there was urgent need for planting materials, food, household items, and construction materials for fixing classrooms, latrines and roads.
The Uganda Red Cross (URC) has already started distributing non-food items like blankets, tarpaulin, jerrycans, soap, plates, cups and sauce-pans.
On the destruction of roads, the acting district engineer, Ali Ismail Hamba, said about 31 kilometres has become impassable, with gravel eroded, sections submerged and culverts and bridges washed away.
He blamed the roads design which did not take into account the risk of flooding. He recommended raising the eroded areas, constructing embankments and installing big culverts, works which he estimated would cost sh5.8b.
Butaleja district is particularly affected by floods because it is a low-lying area through which water from the Mt. Elgon region drains.
The problem is compounded by the fact that Butaleja has many rivers which have burst their banks due to the large volumes of water driven to the area by River Manafwa.
