Climate change to blame for South Sudan’s flooding- IOM

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has described the protracted flooding causing havoc in the country as “climate change in action”.

Thousands of homes, government offices, and schools have been submerged by the floodwaters with Jonglei and Unity states being the most affected. The IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) report estimates that 71 percent of people have been affected.

“As of last week, we confirmed displacement of66,369 individuals, mainly in Panyijar, Rubkona, and Mayiendit,” IOM chief of mission Peter Van Der Auwersert confirmed to The City Review over the weekend.

Peter said the humanitarian partners were advocating for more funding to support the flood victims in Unity State.

“We are advocating in Juba together with partners to have more funding availed for Unity state and the situation addressed both in the IDP camp and for the flood victims,” he said. 

Climate change

He said the floods that are affecting the country may be termed as “climate change in action” as people struggle to survive. 

The official said a long-term solution to the flooding problem in Unity state lies not in humanitarian support but water management.

“The answer there is water management, how can we in the future as a country and a region manage the water of the Nile better so that we do not have this further flooding?

“It would be necessary to discuss with the people who are leaving the areas year after year when they get flooded whether it is possible for them to continue leaving in those areas,” he said. 

“What is happening in Unity State? I think it is a wake-up call. I hope for everyone to say humanitarian assistance is a short term but the long term response is a discussion on how can we better prepare together with authorities and international partners in South Sudan for the effects of climate change,” he explained.

According to the Unity State government, most people have been stranded in the counties due to the flooding.

Peter revealed there was support to be given to those stranded in the flood but it would not reach them due to inaccessibility.

“Some of the areas are only accessible by air, the problem is that you cannot land even if you want to get people out; you can fly over but that is not practically helpful.”

He said the most heartbreaking part of it is that the people are isolated and the humanitarian supporters are not able to reach them due to the floods.

“It is very important for the country to invest in prediction and management because there is a need to get better at predicting the floods in managing them because we don’t want to have a repeat of every year,” Peter said.  

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are more than 466,000 people who have been affected by floods along the Nile and Lol rivers and Sudd marshlands since May.

Some of the most affected states in the country are Jonglei, Unity, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and the Upper Nile States.   

The number of people affected in Jonglei and Unity is are71 percent, also the number of flooded counties out of 78 are 22 counties and the priority counties that are identified are 7.

OCHA stated in the report that the response to people in affected areas is a matter of priority.

The areas include Ayod, Fangak, and Pigi/Canal counties in Jonglei, Aweil South and East counties in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Leer and Panyijiar counties in Unity.