The upcoming rains are set to worsen the flooding along the shores of Lake Victoria, environment experts have warned.
Yesterday Sunday, several areas within and beyond Entebbe Municipality were submerged by the rising water levels of Lake Victoria. The submerged areas included Banga beach, Beach Line along Manyago, Kitubulu villages and Serena Hotel Kigo. Others were Bugonga, Kigungu and Nakiwogo landing sites.
The commissioner for water regulation and management at the ministry of Water and Environment, Dr Caliste Tindimugaya, says that the floods could get worse due to the rains and increasing inflows from mainly R.Kagera and other rivers that pour water into L.Victoria.
Tindimugaya explains that water levels of 1964 were over 13 metres compared to the levels recorded in February at 12.9 metres and 12.8 metres last month. According to Tindimugaya, the ministry of Water is trying to address the issue and has directed power generator, Eskom to gradually release more water from L.Victoria into the R.Nile at the Owen Falls dam at Jinja.
"If you continue to pour water in a bucket, it will, of course, get full. So for you to make sure that the water doesn’t overflow from the bucket, you have to maybe create an opening and in Jinja we have an opening…What is coming in is going through Kagera...The rains that are coming are going to cause more havoc and as we continue to degrade the environment of the little wetlands that have provided protection the situation is going to get worse," Tundimugaya said.
Enid Kansime, whose food stall and home were submerged, says she has incurred estimated losses of about Shs 150,000. She says that she would like to relocate to areas beyond the 200 metres, but does not have capital.
Samson Semakula, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) environment inspector for Entebbe Municipality says developers must respect the 200-metre zone. He says that residents and operators along L.Victoria shores should relocate because of projected higher water levels.
The floods affected several residents and business people especially those with restaurants, shops and other premises near the lake shores.