Kampala is the Capital of Uganda. The city is surrounded by low-lying areas which turn into big lakes when it rains heavily.
Most of these low-lying areas are extensions of the city and because accommodation and cost of living are lower, many people are settled there and this has turned these places into slums. Most of these are wetlands and slums. They are heavily affected by heavy rain - water gushes everywhere into people's houses, shops and the road are covered by over 3 feet of water eroding people's property and forcing people to abandon their homes.
The shop keepers in these areas suffer huge losses because they deal in merchandise like sugar, cement, beverages, and food stuff which are easily spoiled and eroded by the floods. On the other hand the transportation system is impacted heavily as its usually very hard to cross from one side of town to the other because of the flooded roads. The schools also close because the classrooms are flooded and the roads are impassable.
Over the years people have discourages their colleagues from settling in areas such as Kalerwe, Nansana, Bwaise, Ndeeba and Kireka because these are the areas that are more affected by the floods. The hygiene in these places is very poor and it gets worse in the rain season because you will not differentiate a dirty water from sewage! Which lead to the outbreak of deadly diseases like ch***ra.
Residents of these areas have also been advised to relocate to safer places. But of course everyone cant just relocate like that - relocating means a new beginning [from scratch] which is not affordable to many of the people in these areas as they have already established homes and businesses. So they have resorted to resilient plans.
The drainage system in these areas is very poor, the water channels have been blocked by rubbish.
What are these plans?
Residents use basins and jerricans to drain their houses.
Even though most of the businesses come to a stand still in times of floods, such times are good times for the umbrella street vendors as the demand for umbrellas are usually on high demand.
The residents of these areas are trying to be more careful and trying to solve this problem. On several occasions these residents have communally cleaned the drainage water channels, they have also realized that dumping rubbish everywhere is not good so they are trying to be more careful this time round.
The newly built houses have also built with higher verandahs. The newly constructed structures have been built stronger to withstand water damage.
The residents have also called upon the government and city council to improve on the drainage system.
Floods remain a very challenge in these areas even with these efforts - the struggle continues!!
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