Residents with early morning church programmes in Kampala were on Sunday greeted with a heavy morning to downpour that resulted into floods that cut off most of the areas.
Seven people have been confirmed dead in two separate incidents after walls collapsed on them during the heavy downpour.
Five people of the same family, including a mother and four of her children, died in Seguku on Entebbe Road when a wall fence of their neighbour collapsed during the downpour at about 5am.
The deceased have been identified as Aisha Nassali, the mother and wife of Sheikh Adinan Mujiraneza, Prosper Adinan, Promise Adinan, Umaria Adinan and Huzaifa Muzanganda. Sheikh Mujiraneza was not in the house as he had gone for morning prayers at dawn.
According to Daily Monitor, Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said the bodies were retrieved and taken for postmortem.
“We are not looking at any offence against the owners of those perimeter walls yet. We are working with local authorities to find out whether the walls were built in accordance with the set guidelines,” Mr Owoyesigyire said as quoted by Daily Monitor.
Ms Sarah Mugerwa, the owner of the collapsed wall fence, said she had notified the Local Council authorities about the looming danger to the bereaved family given the amount of rain water that flowed towards their house, but no action was taken.
“I also warned my neighbour. I had no control over his decision to vacate the place. Our land is raised but we have been experiencing flooding in the compound,” Ms Mugerwa said.
Another fatal incident happened in Kikajjo Zone, Namasuba on Entebbe Road where a mother, Immaculate Namaganda, and her daughter only identified as Galanyi, were killed by a collapsing perimeter wall weakened by floods.
Since its establishment in 2011, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has upgraded a number of drainage channels to divert floods. However, the problem seems far from over.
In April, KCCA unveiled a drainage masterplan to end flooding in the city. The plan will see a number of drainage channels constructed, over the year.
The masterplan is expected to cost about $208M or approximately Ushs770B.
