Flush floods from river Kaabong in Kaabong town council have washed a UPDF truck as torrential rains continue battering Karamoja region. The Jiefang truck registration number H4D702 was packed for washing at Lomarecherewaret near river Kaabong when it was washed away on Wednesday.
Joseph Ngoli, an eye witness told URN on Thursday morning that UPDF officers were still battling to pull out the truck as it continued sinking in the sand. By evening, the army had deployed heavy machinery including tanks to pull out the truck in vain. Ngoli explains that the rains continue in Timo forest reserve along the Uganda-Kenya border as low lying areas suffer with the floods. Lt. Ceaser Olweny, 5th Division UPDF spokesman, says efforts are underway to retrieve the 21 tone truck adding that no one was in the vehicle when it was swept by the floods.
He says several soldiers have been deployed to dig up the lorry but into continues to sink deeper in the sand. He is however optimistic that the lorry will be recovered in the next couple of days if the rains reduce. In 2005, the flash floods swept away an armored personnel car –APC in Lotome Sub County in Napak district.
The force also lost a battle car in the former Nakapiripirit district now Amudat to flash floods in River Dingidinga. However, the force was able to retrieve the wreckages from the river bed characterized with lose and porous sand. Last year, Uganda Police also suffered a loss when a brand new pick-up-Land Cruiser patrol was swept away by flash floods at the same spot in Kaabong town council. It had just returned from operations before it could be washed off the mud.
George Obia, the Karamoja Region Public Relations Officer advises travelers not to risk washing their vehicles in rivers prone to flash floods in the sub region. He says rains often fall on poorly absorbent soils, which increases the amount of runoff waters leading to floods.
