Authorities in Mayiendit County of Unity state have confirmed that seven people have drowned, more than 800 livestock died and thousands of residents have been displaced by floodwaters in July.
Mayiendit county commissioner Dr. Gatluak Nyang told Radio Tamazuj in an interview that the floods in the southern part of his county comprising eight payams have forced people to relocate to the north of the county.
"Since the beginning of July seven people have drowned in the floodwaters and we have 17 cases of snakebites," he said.
Dr. Nyang said more than 400 households have been displaced as per the July 2021 registration and 525 cattle and 317 goats have died as a result of the floodwaters last month.
"Now, people are suffering because of the floods. There is no food available and people are staying on an island surrounded by floodwater. Most of the families already came out of flooding areas of Mirnyiel and Garlual, to Tharker, Rukuei, Tutnyany, and Luong all in the northern part of the county. All the southern parts are covered by floods," Dr. Nyang said.
The commissioner appealed to national and international humanitarian organizations to provide the flood-displaced population with life-saving assistance, especially food items.
"There is famine in place now. People are facing famine. There is nothing. No food, and no milk from the cattle. Some of the humanitarian organizations came and made assessments and they said they will come back. Others complain about the issue of the poor roads because the southern part of Mayiendit County is controlled by floods and there is no access to Mayiendit County headquarters," Nyang said. "Even I called the minister of humanitarian and disaster management in the national level to talk to all the NGOs."
Dr. Nyang also said the health situation is dire as they report rising cases of diarrhoeal diseases, snake bites, and skins diseases amid a lack of health services. According to him, the state health ministry is aware of the situation but the county has not received any intervention.
He appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the First Vice President Riek Machar to hear the cries of the people of Mayiendit and come to their aid.
Puot Eyiey, a resident affected by the floods in Mayiendit County confirmed that the entire population of the southern part of the county has been forced to relocate to the northern part.
He said although each family receives 15 kilograms of food from the UN World Food Programme every two weeks, the food is not sufficient to feed the family for even eight days.
Eyiey noted that most farms have been swept away by the floodwaters.
The police chief inspector of Mayiendit County, Kuony Cheng, who was displaced to Jaguar Island, says the people need food as a matter of urgency.
"The problem now is no longer insecurity of the people. It is about what to eat and this is what people are thinking about. People who can cause insecurity are those who are fed well and food is available but now, there is no food to eat. The whole village is covered by floods," he said.
Martin Paulo Kuei, the director of lands and survey in Mayiendit County said that 14 out of 16 payams of Mayiendit County are flooded.