South Sudan
When it Rains it ¨Pours
Heavy seasonal rainfall causing devastating floods since June have impacted over 700,000 people across South Sudan — already in a precarious situation due to food shortages from an overwhelming locust infestation and a health crisis from the global Covid-19 pandemic.
A large part of the country is under water with the Nile River at its highest level in 50 years.
Adol Kur Akuei, a mother of 7 children who has been displaced by floods, is overwhelmed by the catastrophe, "In the village I come from, called Mathiang, the floods were devastating. They destroyed everything. They destroyed our houses, killed our cattle, our crops and our source of livelihood."
The World Food Programme has been providing food assistance to more than 500,000 people in flood-affected areas of South Sudan as the threat of famine climbs within the country.
Peter Smerdon, a spokesperson for WFP, shared his concerns, "We were already under pressure in South Sudan because of conflict and because of the high levels of displacement and now with the added burden from flooding, donors need to step forward. But donors themselves, of course, are struggling in their own countries with the pandemic COVID-19. So it is difficult for them to give at this very difficult time."
With the floods compounding the rise in food prices that have resulted from coronavirus related restrictions and the earlier loss of crops to locusts, the WFP seeks to raise 58 million US dollars to continue providing relief.
Go to video
Floods in Somalia: more than a million people displaced
01:57
East Africa Floods: Death toll mounts in Kenya
Go to video
Actress Hend Sabri renounces her role as UN ambassador to denounce "famine" in Gaza
Go to video
Bad weather in Kenya: resumption of rail freight in Mombasa
01:12
Neighbourhoods submerged following flash floods in the Horn of Africa
01:34
Benin struggles to halt coastal erosion despite spending millions of dollars