KAMPALA. A heavy Wednesday afternoon downpour triggered fresh flash flooding in parts of Kampala, disrupting business and heightening fear among traders still recovering from last month’s devastating floods.
Flood water quickly accumulated in several sections of the city, including Farmers’ House, the stretch along the Container Village (Nakivubo Road) and the Queensway interchange, leaving traders stranded inside their shops as floodwater poured into corridors, basements and parking areas.
The latest flooding comes barely three weeks after the October 31 deluge that destroyed merchandise worth billions of shillings across downtown Kampala and left traders staring at a bleak future. This October 31 flooding was largely blamed on the ongoing construction of Nakivubo Drainage Channel where businessman Hamis Kiggundu is erecting shops above the channel which pours into Lake Victoria . Though less destructive, this has deepened anxiety among business owners who say they are still far from recovery. “We are tired of water entering our shops. The floods come even after the rain has stopped, and every time they destroy what we are trying to rebuild,” Ms Patricia Tumusiime, a trader on Sekaziga building, whose shop was invaded by floodwater, said.
At Farmers’ House, workers formed makeshift channels to push water out of the basement after it overwhelmed a drainage outlet. Traders along the nearby road watched helplessly as water swept through verandas, carrying debris into their stalls. Along Container Village, boda boda riders had to hurriedly recover their parked motorcycles along the roadside, while some traders rushed to rescue their merchandise, placing bricks at their doorsteps to prevent water from entering.
Some businesses remained closed entirely, with owners saying the repeated flooding has made the area unsafe during the rainy season.
The situation comes as many distressed traders whose capital was wiped out during the October floods are slowly renovating, replacing damaged shelves, repainting walls and purchasing small batches of stock on borrowed money, with many still closed. “I have been preparing my shop carefully, watching how others rebuilt after October. Today, just a little rain and we are already facing the same fear because our equipment is water threatened as it can make it rust. I don’t even want to open tomorrow,” Mr Samuel Galiwango, a trader at Container Village, said. According to Mr Daniel Nuwebine the spokesperson of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), seven new culverts, each 900 millimetres wide, have been installed to improve water flow in the affected areas and allow faster drainage.
The works are being carried out under the prime minister’s directive to expand water outlets and boost the city’s drainage capacity. “We have been supervising the entire process since the last flooding. In line with the prime minister’s directive to increase drainage outlets, we have so far put in seven 900 millimetre diameter culvert crossings, to ease water evacuation, and it only flooded today because the rain was relatively heavy,” he said.
Mr Nuwebine added: “These culverts have been placed along Ssekaziga building, Juba House, Shamba Complex, Gaggawala Shawuliyako, Pentagon building, Qualicel and Totala Business Centre building. We believe more are to be set up to continue easing the situation, with engineers continuing to clear silt and debris from existing channels.”