In Uganda, at least 15 dead and 113 missing due to landslides after heavy rains

At least 15 people have died and 113 are missing after landslides in eastern Uganda, hit by heavy rain, the police announced in a statement issued on Thursday (November 28) afternoon, adding that ” “Efforts are underway to find them.” The operations are “even if they are hindered by impassable roads”that prevent the access of machines and ambulances to the places, he added.

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a Wednesday night. “disaster alert” after “There was heavy rain on Wednesday. (…) “have caused disaster situations in many regions.”.

Footage released by the Red Cross showed residents of Masugu village carrying out a body from thick clay. On Thursday morning, the head of the Bulambuli district affected by these landslides, Faheera Mpalanyi, reported 30 missing in this village, in a statement to Agence France-Presse. According to the police, five villages (Masugu, Namachele, Natola, Namagugu, Tagalu) are affected.

At least 40 houses were “completely destroyed, while others suffered partial damage”in this district located about 300 kilometers east of the capital, near the border with Kenya, the director of the Ugandan Red Cross, John Cliff Wamala, announced in the morning.

In neighboring Kenya, at least 228 dead and more than 200,000 displaced during the rainy season

The Prime Minister’s office, which reported in its alert published Wednesday night on “20 displaced households” due to landslides in this town, he also announced that two other landslides in the same region had destroyed six farms and a church, and reported a bridge “carried away” in neighboring towns.

In the northwest of the country, the Tangi River, a tributary of the White Nile, overflowed its banks. “An engineer” A member of a rescue team died after a boat that came to rescue a taxi stuck in the canal capsized, the army chief announced Wednesday night.

Uganda, which begins the rainy season at the beginning of November, has been suffering heavy rainfall for two days, particularly damaging transport infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.). Recent rainy seasons in East Africa have been more violent than normal, aggravated by the El Niño climate phenomenon. During the previous one, between March and May, at least two people died in Uganda.

In neighboring Kenya, bad weather left at least 228 dead, 72 missing and more than 200,000 displaced between March and May, according to official figures. In February 2010, in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda, a landslide killed more than 350 people.