Over 1.3 million affected by flooding in South Sudan: UN

Highlights

The United Nations humanitarian agency said that severe flooding caused by heavy rains pounding several parts of South Sudan has affected more than 1.3 million people.

Juba: The United Nations humanitarian agency said that severe flooding caused by heavy rains pounding several parts of South Sudan has affected more than 1.3 million people.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday said in an update released in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, that the floods have so far displaced about 327,000 people in 42 counties and the Abyei Administrative Area.

"Joint government and interagency assessments in the last week found an additional 230,000 people in Jonglei, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile states to be affected," OCHA said, noting that heavy rainfall and flooding have rendered 15 major supply routes impassable, significantly restricting access to affected areas.

The UN agency warned humanitarian access has worsened due to ongoing flooding and intensified rainfall which has hampered physical access to affected communities seeking refuge on higher ground due to damaged and impassable roads, Xinhua news agency reported.

South Sudan is witnessing some of its worst flooding in decades that has caused widespread devastation in several parts of the country and has so far left homes and livelihoods impacted with roads and key infrastructure submerged and several communities devastated.

UN forecast has predicted above-average rainfall, river flows from Uganda and potentially record-breaking floods, according to OCHA.

The country is one of the 18 hunger hotspots globally, where food security is deteriorating, according to the early warnings given by the UN agencies on the acute food insecurity outlook for June to October.