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Residents displaced as L.Victoria bursts its shoreline in Masaka

Countries
Uganda
Sources
Monitor
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By ISSA ALIGA

At least 150 fishermen together with their families at Kachanga and Lambu landing sites in Masaka District abandoned their houses following the rise in water levels on Lake Victoria shoreline.

According to Ms Agnes Namukasa, the village chairperson Kachanga landing site, over 95 percent of residents have been affected by the floods because strong winds on the lake continue to blow water into their houses.

“Some residents have seen their household property like clothes and beddings washed away into the lake, they have nowhere to sleep since their houses are currently submerged. Some have relocated to neighbouring villages of Kaziru and Sunga,” she said on Wednesday.

The floods also cutoff the only road connecting to Lambu from Kachanga, paralysing transportation of goods.

Mr Ivan Mutabigwa, a councillor representing Bukibonga Parish at Buwunga Sub County, attributes the rising water levels to intensity of the rainfall along the lake shores in the past four months.

“The situation seems to be getting out of hand , the road connecting to Lambu landing site has been cut off and the trucks cannot come to the landing site to collect fish,'' he said.

Bukakatta Sub County chairperson, Mr Aloysius Jjuuko has appealed to government to avail residents with mosquito nets because many have started suffering from malaria.

The rise in the water levels in various areas along Lake Victoria shoreline has already wreaked havoc in other areas like Kirongo landing site in Buvuma Islands, Mulungu, Munyonyo in Kampala and Entebbe areas where many commercial facilities have been submerged.

Environmentalists say this unpredictable flooding points to climate change occasioned by global warming due to man’s relentless war against nature.

But there is also pollution by man, which also partly explains water surge forcing the suffocated lake to burst its shoreline, submerging residences in close proximity.

In some areas, the residents have been advised to relocate for their safety while lakeside businesses such as hotels and beaches are grappling with constant flooding, with part of the premises abandoned or closed.