At least 14 people have been killed in a landslide in eastern Uganda, but officials fear that the true number of dead is much higher after 40 houses were swept away.

The landslides triggered by heavy rainfall affected multiple villages in the Bulambuli district, about 280 km (178 miles) from the capital Kampala.

The Ugandan Red Cross Society said at least 14 people had died, but AFP has reported the death toll could be as high as 30 people.

A rescue operation is underway, the Ugandan Red Cross Society said on X.

At least six of the bodies recovered have been children, the Ugandan Red Cross told the BBC.

Heavy rainfall has inundated the East African country for the last few days.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja issued a disaster warning on X.

"People are suspected to be missing and some feared buried by slides," her statement said.

Rivers have burst their banks, flooding schools and churches, destroying bridges, and isolating communities.

The military has been deployed to assist with search and recovery efforts.

On Wednesday, the defence forces said on X that two boats had been deployed during an operation to rescue a taxi stuck on a bridge near the town of Pakwach.

One of the boats capsized and an engineer died.

In parliament on Thursday, the speaker, Anitah Among, expressed her condolences to the relatives of those who have lost their lives in the flooding across the country.

This is not the first time that eastern Uganda has been hit by floods and landslides.

In 2010, a landslide in Bududa killed about 300 people. This was one of the most devastating natural disasters in the country.

The region is mountainous with arable land which is good for farming - one of the reasons people are reluctant to move away, alongside their attachment to their ancestral land.

But this year alone, the heavy rainfall, flooding, and landslides have forced thousands of people to leave their homes, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.