At least 150,000 people have been displaced from their homes due to heavy flooding in the eastern Jonglei state in South Sudan, local authorities said on Friday.
Gabriel Ajak, State Director for Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said that thousands of people had been displaced in most parts of Jonglei region, which has also been experiencing inter-communal violence since July.
“It is terrible. People have been displaced in Bor town, Twic East, due to flooding.
“The population in the Jonglei region in the places of Bor, Twic East, Duk and Ayod is about 150,000 people,” Ajak said.
He said the water level had risen by 1.5 metres following heavy rainfall since July.
Inter-communal violence has affected 400,000 people in the region prior to flooding, Ajak said.
“We urge the national government and the aid agencies to help our people from this bad situation,” he said.
The UN agencies said in 2019 that an estimated 900,000 people were displaced due to flooding in Jonglei, Pibor and Eastern Equatoria regions.
The World Food Programme and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation recently warned that 60,000 people in South Sudan were staring at hunger due to inter-communal violence in Jonglei and Pibor regions.
The agencies said the violence in eastern South Sudan was making more people suffer from hunger.
South Sudan is currently implementing a fragile peace deal signed in 2018 to end more than six years of conflict.
