WFP Seeks Aid for South Sudan Flood Relief

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.