Ugandan floods kill more people

10 June 2026, 9:13 am

By Yoweri Kaguta

Kasese: This is Joachim Bwambale, a resident of Kamuruli Lower in Nyakatonzi sub-county, Kasese district who lost two people when floods struck the area May 2026.

Bwambale lost his wife, Jetrida Kabugho aged 22 and unborn child. He emotionally adds that losing an eight-month pregnancy makes the situation very painfully.

Bwambale says his wife died on her way back from shopping for their unborn child. She was due to deliver early June this year, but the floods washed away all the hope she had for the baby. ‘‘Losing two people in unclear circumstances is too painful’’, He said.

Since 2013, every time it rains, major rivers streaming from Rwenzori Mountains descend from the hills, meander through settlements in Kasese district without sparing the wellbeing of people. Crops have been destroyed, gardens swallowed by floods and families are left hungry.

Life for many families in Kasese has been hard characterised by increasing temperatures, draughts, landslides, and floods.

Therefore climate change is now part of their daily discussion because it is evidenced in the extreme weather conditions, heat wave, low agricultural yields and river bank destruction.

Any weather change in a society affects everyone but women are always hit hard because of their gender roles as women.

Between April and May this year, the district has lost eleven people, six of them females, who died after drowning in rivers. These include, Evaline Masika, Jetrad Kabugho and her unborn child, Raudia Kabugho, Christine Kyakimwa and Nya Provia.

Amon Bwambale, Joward Mbusa, Brighton Dongobulayi, and Godwin Byuki have all lost their lives due to floods. A

The latest incident is the May 31^st, 2026 where Godwine Byuki aged 13 years was swept by River Dungulhuha while trying to save a brother at a crossing point in Kithabona village, Kyarumba sub-county.

The number of people who have perished due disasters in Kasese alone has not been officially documented. The District Disaster Management Committee estimates the number at more than 100 people over the last 13 years.

In September 2022, torrential rainfall triggered a massive landslide that swept through Kasese trading centre in Rukooki sub-county and 16 people were killed.

Primarily mothers and children who were asleep when the incident occurred were buried in their homes.

According to, Our World in Data, a widely used scientific online publication that uses empirical data and interactive visualizations to track global problems like poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, and inequality, estimates that globally, natural disasters kill an average of 10,000 to 60,000 people per year.

Ezekiel Isebona, a resident of Bwesumbu sub-county in Busongora North lost his new house, estimated at over 40 million shillings, when it was struck by a huge landslide in May 2026

Isebona has since relocated his family, including his 92-year old grandmother, to a nearby trading centre.

 ‘It took me four years to build a decent four- roomed house. I moved in two months ago, but a landslide struck and forced us into one room at a nearby trading centre’’, He said.

Mr. Isaac Mbusa Nyamwongera, Program Coordinator for Local Climate Adaptive Living-loCAL in-charge of western region explained that the United Nations Capital Development-UNCDF is building climate resilience to enable communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure to anticipate, absorb, and recover from climate-related shocks.

He added that the project implemented in more than five sub-counties in Kasese is channelling climate finance directly to local communities through constructing bridges that were once washed away by floods.