Uganda People News: Bridges washed away by Floods in eastern Uganda

By Mugisa Isaac Mathias
Flash floods have washed away bridges connecting Karamoja to the rest of the country leaving hundreds of travellers stranded.

The road Moroto to Nakarapit has been cut off by the flood that has washed away Lorendwat Bridge while the Nakapiripit –Mbale road is also cut off from Chepukusinya.

In Moroto several people who were heading to Kotido are stranded after the Loperu Bridge got submerged in the floods.

Sister Lusu the parish chief of Lorendwat in Nakapiripit who is among the travellers who were stranded in Mbale says the Mbale –Nakapiripit road has been blocked by more than ten trucks from Tororo cement which are stuck in the mud in Chepukusunya.

Lusu says only travellers who use 4 wheel drive vehicles are able to access Nakapiripit through using an access road that passes through Kapichorwa.

Travellers to Kotido have spent two days in Moroto hoping that the water levels in river Lupe would go down for vehicles to resume using the Moroto- kotido road but this has not yet happened.

Those travelling to Nakapiripit have to pay more than 40,000 shillings because they have to travel through Soroti and Mbale and since the bridge in Lorendwat has been washed away by the floods.

Passengers usually pay 10000 shillings to cover the 90 kilometers Moroto Nakapiripit road but now they have to pay three times that amount to cover close 300 kilometres through Soroti and Mbale.

In Kabong districts there are fears that the only route may also be cut off if the Ministry of works does not act fast and repair the Lalenga Bridge.

Weeks of torrential rains have triggered off mudslides and floods in Karamoja and Bugisu region. On Tuesday seven people were killed and two other injured when a mud slide hit a family In Kabong district. The incident was followed by a similar one in Bududa district on Thursday and over 400 hundred others displaced.