Submerged Rumbek East headquarters. (-)

Rumbek East County Commissioner in Lakes State said days of heavy rain this week triggered flooding that submerged his headquarters and forced hundreds of people out of their homes in the area.

Mangar Machol said the event started on Thursday when a drastic increase in water level of the local Nam river caused it to overflow its banks and submerge settlements, displacing an unspecified number of households to higher grounds.

He narrated that several shelters made of mud walls have collapsed while livestock have been left without grazing land in several villages.

“The flood came with high force. In fact, I had to relocate. The damage caused is really is very high, and as we speak, the flow is still high and most of the houses are still collapsing, the houses which has collapsed is really high,” he said.

Commissioner Machol said he has relocated stationeries and documents to safer place after his concrete-built headquarters in Adwel Payam was overtaken by water and that he

Machol called on communities in low-lying areas to evacuate to higher grounds as the water level continues to increase.

“Now I’m engaging the people here including the community leaders, the county taskforce, those who are affected and not affected because the water flow is still very high and people need to evacuate to in advance to avoid damages that is going on.”

“For those affected to move to the highland since the flow is still constant and we don’t know when it shall stop. We are engaging people to move to the high land.”