Business communities along L. Victoria have come to a halt after water levels rose drastically in the last few days. Some of the communities affected include Ggaba and Mulungu landing site which have been submerged by rising water levels of Lake Victoria.

While at Ggaba landing site and fish markets business is still ongoing, at Mulungu things are different. We visited the two places this morning and found that public must leave their vehicles at a certain place in Ggaba as the water has cut off the fish market and must cross on foot using the few wooden bridges put up by traders.

However, the case in Mulungu is worse as even the wooden structures where people used to sit and relax to enjoy fish and drinks are all currently flooded.
People near the lake, especially in munyonyo, have been forced to abandon their homes. Water ducks have taken over these homes and seem to be having the greatest time. Hotels near the lake have been flooded.

The water levels in Lake Victoria have been rising since last year, affecting people’s businesses and forcing others to run for their lives. This is also happening in Kalangala and many other islands surrounding the lake.

The current predicament is blamed on factors such as degraded forests and swamps around Lake Victoria, silted valleys for construction and buildings erected on hills surrounding the lake.

Mulungu landing site alone has 20,000 fish traders, 50,000 fishermen, bar operators, food vendors while more than 10,000 children. All these are affected by the current occurrence.

EXPERTS WARNED EARLIER IN March, that the lake level of 12.94 metres was similar to that of 04/03/1964 and that if the trend continues, the water is likely to reach the maximum or even exceed the historical maximum of 13.46 metres in May 2020.

On March 6th, Escom spilt water at Nalubaale and Kiira power plants to help reduce the water levels in the lake. The company split up to 400 cubic meters per second. The exercise started on February 28th 2020 but seems not to be helping.