The United Nations -UN have declared that the massive flooding in South Sudan that has affected about 809,000 people is the worst and the most prolonged.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 8.3 million people in South Sudan are in dire need of humanitarian assistance as it is said that 33 of the country’s 78 counties have been affected by floods, and 50 percent initially assessed as a possible cholera hotspot.
The UN agency also warned that the situation might worsen further following the breakdown of health service provisions due to flooding, leading to high incidences of endemic and epidemic diseases such as cholera, measles, and malaria.
The floods that have affected areas along the Nile and Lol rivers, and the Sudd marshlands since May, have left Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile states as the worst affected.
Failure to provide acute malnutrition services in flood-affected counties in Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile, and Warrap states, will put the lives of more than 277,960 people at risk, the UN agency warned.
The situation has been compounded by an escalation of violence in areas such as Tambura, which have affected 100,000 people and due to floods and instability, the country’s food insecurity is now at a record level.
According to the World Food Program, 2.5 million people in the country are at emergency or worse levels of acute food insecurity.
On Monday, Martin Griffiths, emergency relief coordinator, allocated $13 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund for an urgent response to South Sudan flooding.
This is the third year in a row a large part of South Sudan has been flooded.
