Devastation in South Sudan following fourth year of historic floods

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is urging international support for humanitarian efforts in South Sudan in the face of record-breaking rains and floods for a fourth consecutive year, and the threat of worse to come as the climate crisis accelerates.

Two-thirds of the country is currently experiencing flooding. Over 900,000 people have been directly impacted as waters have swept away homes and livestock, forced thousands to flee, and inundated large swathes of farmland, worsening an already dire food emergency. Boreholes and latrines have been submerged, contaminating water sources and risking outbreaks of diseases.

While South Sudan’s refugee crisis remains the largest in Africa, with over 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries, an estimated 2.2 million people are internally displaced within the country, which also hosts over 340,000 refugees.

Wracked by civil war for most of its brief history, South Sudan is afflicted by widespread intercommunal violence, the devastating effects of climate change, and severe food insecurity affecting 60 per cent of the population of 11 million. Food prices have soared, and the currency has been devalued, exacerbating a protracted humanitarian crisis.