Thousands flee flooding in Juba

The state government of Bahr al-Jabal, southern Sudan, on Monday declared flood-affected districts in and around Juba town to be “disaster zones”, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported on Tuesday. Local government officials said some 17,000 people had been made homeless after the Nile river burst its banks following heavy rain, dpa reported. State press spokesman Lee Lemi Elias said that flood victims in Juba town and outlying areas had been moved to higher ground, but were in urgent need of shelter, food, clothing and cooking utensils, it stated. The rising incidence of diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria was causing concern, and the local head of the state Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), Stans Yatta, had appealed for national and international assistance, it added. Northern and eastern Sudan were particularly badly affected by heavy flooding and flash floods in August, with displaced communities continuing to face increased health risks from water-borne diseases and lack of clean water and sanitation as floodwaters recede. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies last week described the situation on the ground in certain states as “desperate”, with people finding their houses washed away, crops destroyed, livestock dead and food supplies ruined. The Federation also warned of a strong possibility of additional flooding in early September. [for more details, see IRIN stories on the flooding at: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/archive/sudan.phtml]