By William Garang
King News 02nd October 2024 – The Commissioner of Pigi County in Jonglei State has appealed for urgent humanitarian aid as floods continue to wreak havoc, displace people, and destroy lives.
In an interview with Pigi County Commissioner Suliman Deng Thon, the floods have destroyed crops and displaced over 5,000 people.
“All the properties are damaged, farms destroyed, and people are now displaced to highland, and approximately 2000 houses were wrecked by flood affecting 5000 people,” he said.
Mr. Thon revealed that the overflowing waters from River Nile, Sobat River and Jonglei Canal exacerbated the situation in Pigi County. He added that up now the flood victims have not received any aid assistance from organizations and government.
“People are in a dire situation, sickness, hunger, and lack of shelters, and they really need medicines, water sheets, mosquito nets, and food assistance,” Thon lamented.
“We call on international and local humanitarian agencies and well-wishers to swiftly intervene in Pigi County.”
He also waved a red flag over an unidentified wild animal that mauled a boy at night after the flood hit the area hard.
“A five-year-old boy had been attacked and eaten up by an unknown wild animal on Sunday. We only discovered his bones the following morning,” said Thon.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 800,000 people in 38 of South Sudan’s 78 counties, including the Abyei Administrative Area, have been affected by the flooding.
South Sudan is facing unprecedented flooding, with forecasts predicting above-average rainfall, river flows from Uganda, and potentially record-breaking floods.
The joint flood preparedness and response plan, developed by the government, the UN, and other partners, aims to assist 2.4 million people.
It also identified 20 high-risk counties across Unity, Jonglei/Greater Pibor Administrative Area, Lakes, Warrap, Upper Nile, Central Equatoria, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states as priority areas for intervention.