The government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on Tuesday released data on losses occassioned by floods in the last 3 months across the state.
According to the data, thousands of houses collapsed, some 30 people were documented to have died from snake bites, 35 people drowned and thousands of acres of farmlands were submerged.
The state’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission’s chairperson, Dut Majokdit, said 77 percent of the population is affected and many had to leave their homes and relocate to higher ground.
“Indeed, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State is one of the flood-affected states in South Sudan and 77 percent of our total population is affected by the floods,” he said. “All counties, including the municipality, are affected and most houses fell and most of the people have been displaced from their homes due to the flooding.”
He said 75,000 houses are documented as having collapsed and 809,472 individuals were affected by the deluges.
“That means that the total population of our State has been affected by the floods and we urge the humanitarian organizations who are operating in Northern Bahr el Ghazal and also Juba to support them with shelter, food items, hygiene kits, blankets, and mosquito nets,” Majikdit added.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Bounchuai community Aweil South, Piol Geng Ariath, said most of the houses in his area have been destroyed and farmlands inundated and he wondered what the population would feed on.
“The floods destroyed houses and there is no hope in the farms this year except if God opens a way to ease the supply of Sorghum (Dura) and people should work hard to buy the food items for their families,” a downcast Geng said.
For his part, Dut Majak, a paramount chief in Aweil West County, lamented that the unprecedented floods had destroyed everything.
“The floods have destroyed everything, houses and crops are submerged,” he bemoaned. “This is the heaviest rain and it has never happened like this in the past.”