By Charles K Mark
Floods have caused devastating damage in Jonglei, with the state capital-Bor, being hit the hardest.
Latest municipal authority reports indicate that more than 17,000 residents have been left homeless in the wake of the disaster.
The situation remains dire as people struggle to cope with the aftermath of the floods.
Most of the population, now takes refuge at schools and others camp in open places on higher grounds, under unbearable life conditions.
Atong Maluel, one of the victims, had just married one week before the floods submerged her Bor town neighborhood. She and five more families are now living in a school compound in Bor.
Atong said she could only walk into the water to access her own home compound to collect some vegetables (okra).
Like the other displaced17, 000 people, Atong lost not only a home but also many of her valuable possessions too.
She reported that the displacement has cost them many of their belongings, and now they have nothing to sleep on.
“I left my bed and mattress inside my house during the flooding, and when I came back to collect them, I found they were stolen,” Atong decried.
The flood victim said even in the school compound where they are camping, life has not been an easy walk for their survival.
“In the school compound where we are now, we lack clean water; if we can get a water tank for us to fill, that is good; we also lack food; we have nothing to eat.”
The mayor of Bor Municipality, John Matiop Achiek, told journalists on Saturday that the people who were displaced by floods in his municipality are now sheltering in open places and schools.
“Many of the people displaced are currently occupying open places without shelter and with no food provision,” said mayor Matiop.
He said the desolate situation has gone on for almost a week, adding that the municipal council is working on dikes to try to block the water from the river from entering the residences.
“Our population is living there, and it is becoming beyond my capacity, so we are involved, and we call the governor to intervene and also the African Resource Corporation (ARC),” he revealed.
Over the past months, according to the relief web, floods have caused enormous disruptions across the state.
According to the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, the floods have covered some 80 percent of the state’s land and displaced an overall population of more than 403,000 citizens to higher ground in less struck areas.
Houses have collapsed and lives have been lost, while farming and other livelihoods have also been badly affected.
According to the National Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the outpour of water from the Owen Falls Dam in Uganda that caused the banks of the White Nile in Bor to burst has decreased by approximately one-third since last month.