Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in three villages of Malongo sub-county, Lwengo District, destroying homes, washing away crops, and leaving hundreds of residents stranded without food or shelter.
The worst-hit villages are Lwemiyaga, Lwentale, and Kiganda.
According to Moses Kitamanyirwe, chairperson of Lwemiyaga village, the storm pounded the area with such intensity that residents' houses, banana plantations, and other crops were flattened.
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"This rainstorm left people with nothing. Houses collapsed, gardens were destroyed, and families are now stranded in the cold," Kitamanyirwe said.
Among those hit hardest are widows and elderly people without caretakers, now surviving on neighbours' support.
Children, too, are in despair after the storm struck while their grandmother was away in Kampala receiving hospital treatment.
"We survived the rain, but what will kill us now is hunger. We have nowhere to sleep. Everything was destroyed -- our food crops, fruits like jackfruit and mangoes, all gone," lamented Nicholas Abimanya.
Lwemiyaga village councillor Enock Katoroogo described the storm as one of the worst disasters ever to hit the area, saying nothing was spared.
He appealed to government to urgently provide relief.
"The destruction here is massive. People have lost everything. We are calling on government to come to our rescue," Katoroogo said.
District Chairperson Ibrahim Kitatta visited the devastated villages to assess the situation.
While sympathising with residents, he promised that a district disaster team would be dispatched to establish the extent of damage and recommend relief support through the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness.
"I feel the pain of our people, but we shall not leave them alone. As district leadership, we shall forward our findings to the relevant ministries for support," Kitatta assured.
He also urged residents to take environmental conservation seriously, warning that deforestation had worsened the storm's impact.
"If our area had more trees, this destruction would not have been so severe. We must embrace tree planting to protect ourselves from such disasters in the future," he advised.
Residents, however, say unless relief food, shelter materials, and seeds are provided urgently, they face imminent starvation and long-term suffering from the loss of their livelihoods.
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