The death toll following a landslide after days of heavy rains in Bududa, Eastern Uganda has risen to 40, Ugandan officials have confirmed.

Speaking to Reuters, Uganda's Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Management Martin Owor said landslides tumbled down onto a small town on the mountain's slopes on Thursday afternoon.

A river burst its banks in Bududa on Thursday at about 2.30pm following a heavy rainfall and a landslide up Mt Elgon in Eastern Uganda.

The landslide rolled big boulders through a village in Bukalasi Subcounty killing several people, wrecking homes and burying animals.

A disaster team led by Brig Steven Oluka has been dispatched to join the District Disaster rescue and recovery team.

Through his official Twitter account, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni urged residents to cooperate with authorities to mitigate possible further danger.

The president sent his condolences to affected families.

"The government will look at the other options available to stop further occurrences of these disasters. My condolences to those who have lost their dear ones in this catastrophe," President Museveni said on Twitter.

Uganda's Daily Monitor reports that over 500 people are reported to have also been displaced and are in need of shelter and food, according to the local leaders.

Many of the East African country's mountainous regions, also including areas in the southwest and west near the borders with Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, often experience landslides at this time of the year if rains are unusually heavy.

The rainy season in that part of Uganda, about 250 km (155 miles) from the capital Kampala and close to the Kenyan border, runs from September to December.