By William Madouk
Recent heavy rains in Northern Bahr el Ghazal have resulted in devastating flooding that has claimed the lives of three people, including a mother and her infant, in the Nyin-aluk residential area.
The floods have displaced hundreds of families, leaving them homeless as they grapple with the aftermath of the disaster. Approximately 2,300 homes and farms have been destroyed, along with vital infrastructure such as schools.
The severe downpour has also rendered key roadways, including Dokul and the Akuem-Kou areas, impassable.
In response, State Governor Simon Ober led a risk management team on Tuesday to assess the situation and evaluate the damage.
“We have come to inspect and see the progress that has been made so far – the company is doing well and we encourage them to continue upgrading this road,” said Ober.
“We are now in Dokul one of the road sections that is badly affected and the only one that connects state headquarters with the county of Aweil East and also Aweil North,” he added.
He said they had just concluded their third meeting with the State Risk Management Council and they agreed on regular road maintenance and modalities of food distribution to flood victims.
Besides, the chairperson for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, Parson Lual Awech said food distribution to flood victims had begun on Thursday as part of a government initiative to quell the situation.
“We have distributed 1500 bags; at least 500 bags of rice and 1000 bags of sorghums,” Awech said.
“There are shelters that we are going to distribute shortly, in Aweil East ICRC organization is going to distribute 2000 shelters to flood-affected individuals in Aweil East, Aweil town and other parts,” he added.
Although the Northern Bahr el Ghazal government has earmarked SSP 200 million to procure food for flood victims it was like a drop in the ocean.
Now, the State RRC boss is calling on the humanitarian agencies to intervene in rescuing flood victims.
“We are expecting Humanitarian agencies to support in terms of shelters and other non-food items to flood affected population,” he said.
Similarly, ARC company had already embarked on rehabilitating the roads that were cut off by floods.
South Sudan ranks seventh in the world for people’s vulnerability to river floods.
Between 2019 and 2022, torrential rains and rising water levels around Lake Victoria, one of Africa’s Great Lakes, generated a wide swampy area of flooding in the country.
Frequent floods in recent years have destroyed health facilities, water and food sources, and shelters.
This year, more than 5.4 million people are expected to live in flood-affected areas.
Recent forecasts indicate an increased likelihood of above-normal rainfall between July to October and large volumes of water being released from Lake Victoria and Jinja Dam into the Nile River system.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said earlier “Devastating floods are expected to hit South Sudan over the next three months, threatening to worsen food insecurity and further limit access to safe water and proper sanitation facilities for people who are already among the world’s most vulnerable to the impacts.”