3 die in Kampala floods

KAMPALA.
There was a sombre mood in Kanyogoga village, Namuwongo, a Kampala suburb as the police and locals retrieved the bodies of two people who drowned in floods on Wednesday evening.

Moses Kisembo, a resident of Kanyogoga and another unidentified pregnant woman, reportedly working as a security guard in Bugolobi, drowned as they were crossing a partly submerged bridge.

Mr Simon Arteta, an eye witness and also a resident of Kanyogoga, said Kisembo slipped as he was trying to save a woman who was stranded in the floods.

“Kisembo was helping a woman stranded in the floods. The two slid and fell in together. I will miss him. He was a hardworking man. He was one of our great builders,” Mr Arteta said.

However, Mr Joseph Kakooza, the Officer in Charge (OC) of Kisigu police station, said the victims drowned at different intervals.

“It is not true that these people fell in together. They tried to keep afloat by holding hands but failed because of too much pressure of the water. One was called Moses Kisembo and an unknown pregnant woman,” Mr Kakooza said.

By press time the search was halted with the woman’s body still missing but Mr Kakooza said the search would resume when the water levels go down.

Kisembo’s body has been taken to his home in Kanyogoga. He is survived by six children and a wife. He will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Hoima District.

Mr Isma Kalule, head of security in Bukasa Parish, said this was the fifteenth incident in the last four years. He said bodies are usually discovered by scrap collectors thus warning residents to be cautious when crossing bridges during floods.

Meanwhile, another unidentified man suspected to have been a boda boda rider was also killed by the floods at Clock Tower on Wednesday evening.
Mr Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, said the deceased’s body was retrieved and has been taken to Mulago Hospital morgue.

“We retrieved the body of the suspected boda boda rider. He was swept by the heavy floods on Wednesday evening. Two of his colleagues were saved alive,” he said.

jkato@ug.nationmedia.com