426,000 affected by floods in South Sudan: UN

Heavy flooding has affected and displaced an estimated 426,000 people in South Sudan, including 185,000 children, as overflowing rivers flood homes and farms in the impoverished country, the UN emergency response agency said on Tuesday. United.

Rescuers used canoes and boats to reach those isolated by the flood, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a briefing note, warning that more rains and flooding were expected in the months future.

The downpours “have exacerbated the vulnerability of communities, with many people displaced by the floods seeking refuge in churches and schools,” the agency said.

In Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, home to about a third of the flood-affected population, desperate farmers pleaded for help, as rising water levels from early seasonal rainfall overwhelmed their residents. houses and their lands.

“Even the animals are affected. All the places where we graze them are all inundated with water,” farmer Gatjiath Pal told AFP.

“There is water everywhere … and we don’t know when it will end because it rains every day here,” he said.

Other villagers said they were afraid of being bitten by snakes as the flood prompts reptiles to seek refuge inside buildings.

“Life here is so miserable,” Nyadak Chuol, a mother of three, told AFP.

Heavy flooding affected and displaced an estimated 426,000 people in South Sudan, like those pictured on September 14, 2021, including 185,000 children, as overflowing rivers flooded homes and farms in the impoverished country. By ASHRAF SHAZLY (AFP / File)

“The roads are blocked … water has reached our homes. We are struggling every day now to find safe places to stay,” said the 33-year-old.

“The worst part is … wild and dangerous animals like snakes are approaching us,” she added.

Heavy rains destroyed fragile thatched huts and killed livestock, a year after record flooding affected an estimated 700,000 people.

About 100,000 of those displaced in last year’s disaster have still not returned home, the UN agency said.

In addition to health facilities damaged or destroyed by the floods, 113 schools were also affected, endangering children’s education, he warned.

Meanwhile, rescue teams are struggling to bring aid to some 25,000 people in Warrap, a northwestern state embroiled in deadly conflict between rival ethnic groups.

Aid reductions

Last month, OCHA warned of limited supplies and a lack of funding, saying it had only received 54% of the $ 1.7 billion (€ 1.4 billion) needed to pay for the costs. programs in the country.

The lack of funding has also forced the United Nations World Food Program to withhold food aid to more than 100,000 displaced people in South Sudan, the agency said earlier this month, warning of further cuts unless she no longer receives any money.

The downpours “have exacerbated the vulnerability of communities, with many people displaced by the floods seeking refuge in churches and schools,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. By ASHRAF SHAZLY (AFP / File)

Four in five of South Sudan’s 11 million people live in “absolute poverty”, according to the World Bank in 2018, while more than 60% of its population suffers from severe hunger due to the combined effects of conflict , drought and floods.

Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the young nation has been in the throes of a chronic economic and political crisis and has struggled to recover from the aftermath of a five-year civil war that claimed nearly 400,000 people. dead.

While a 2018 ceasefire and power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar is still broadly valid, it is under strain, with little progress being made in meeting terms. of the peace process.