Dutch NGO’s Acute Joint Humanitarian Response for South Sudan Floods 2019

Abnormally heavy seasonal flooding has been devastating large areas of South Sudan since July 2019. Compared to similar seasons of previous years, the impact is of a much larger scale. For example, at the same time in 2017, heavy rains and flooding also affected several parts of South Sudan, but the numbers reported then were much lower with around 119,000 people affected1, and mostly affected Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Jonglei states. This year, the flooding has been particularly heavy, exacerbated by rainfall in Kenya and Ethiopia, which led to the swelling of Pibor river along the Ethiopian border. The heavy rains have hit areas that were already facing high humanitarian needs – 63% of the flood-affected counties were already in IPC 4 (critical). According to Relief Organisation of South Sudan (ROSS) estimated figure of 4661HH (27,966 individuals) were affected by the floods on 19 October. This increased to an estimated 908,000 people affected, including 420,000 displaced by 25 October (UNOCHA). While the floods, caused by torrential rains, have been ongoing since July, they have intensified in October.