Private Story
Julius Odeke | Mount Elgon Floods
3rd Place
On that fateful day of July 30, 2022, there was a heavy downpour that started at 10PM and ended on July 31 at about 8 am in the upper Elgon sub-region causing floods that ravaged several areas in the lowlands. The heavy downpour devastated the Elgon sub-region as flash floods hit the districts of Mbale, Kapchorwa, Bulambuli, Namisindwa, Sironko, Manafwa and Mbale City, killing at least 29 people and displacing over 150 homesteads.
Of the 23 bodies that were retrieved from River Nabuyonga along Kumi Road in the Northern Division in Mbale City, 11 were visitors from Masaka travelling to Kabwangasi sub-county in Pallisa district for a marriage ceremony. A lot of property both public and private was destroyed worth millions of shillings. People wailed as they witnessed the bodies of their loved ones being pulled out of the roaring waters of River Nabuyonga and Namatala to mention but a few. The retrieving exercise saw several bodies and cars that had drowned in the water bodies being pulled out by locals with no protective gear.
420
