Floods displace 50,000 people in Unity State’s Leer County

LEER – At least 50,000 people have been displaced by severe flooding in Leer County of South Sudan’s Unity State, local authorities said, as heavy rains inundated farmlands and villages across the area.

Leer County Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) Coordinator James Dor Mathiang said the floods have destroyed crops and submerged farmland in Thonyor, Adok, Yang, Pillieny, and Payak payams, leaving residents in urgent need of food and shelter.

“Fifty thousand people were reportedly displaced by floods and heavy rain that lasted for three days without stopping,” Dor told Sudans Post on Sunday.

He said the floods have worsened the humanitarian situation in a region already struggling from years of conflict and food insecurity.

“People are living in very bad conditions now and need urgent support from national and international organizations operating in Leer County,” Dor said.

According to the official, local authorities have held meetings with humanitarian agencies to coordinate relief efforts, but assistance has so far been limited.

“We are in contact with NGOs to help provide non-food items and emergency supplies, but there has been little support from the government side,” Dor said.

He added that some flood-affected families have moved to Leer town, where they are sheltering on higher ground while waiting for the waters to recede.

“Many people have come to Leer town and are waiting for the rainy season to end so they can return home once the water level goes down,” he said.

Unity State, one of South Sudan’s flood-prone regions, has experienced recurrent flooding in recent years, displacing tens of thousands of people and disrupting livelihoods across the Nile basin counties.