Warrap flood assessment team speak to affected residents. (Photo: Courtesy).

Warrap State government has recorded 21 people bitten by snakes two of whom have died in Tonj North County following flooding caused by torrential rains in the area.

According to the state Flood Assessment Team appointed by Governor Kuol Muor Muor, 9,000 households have been affected in 9 payams of Tonj North County alone, with farms and pasturelands submerged underwater.

On the other hand, in Gogrial East County, over 10,000 households were affected in 10 payams where 36 school infrastructures including 4 secondary schools partially functioning.

Warrap Information Minister William Wol Mayom said the flood situation induced increasing cases of malaria and other waterborne diseases, as health facilities and schools partially close.

“The situation is actually very bad in terms of displacement. Over nine thousand households have been displaced in Gogrial East,” the minister said in an interview with Eye Radio.

“Twenty-one cases of snake bites have been reported including two people passed away. We also got a report of schools being partially closed because of the flooding that has submerged some schools into water.”

Mayom appealed to the national ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, and partners to quickly intervene and help the suffering population in the State.

Devastating floods are expected to hit South Sudan over the next three months, threatening to worsen food insecurity and further limit access to safe water and proper sanitation facilities, said Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

South Sudan ranks seventh in the world for people’s vulnerability to river floods – seasonal floods in recent years have destroyed health facilities, water and food sources, and shelters.

Between 2019 and 2022, torrential rains and rising water levels around Lake Victoria, one of Africa’s Great Lakes, generated a wide swampy area of flooding in the country.

Last month, the national government and United Nations’ Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan announced a joint assessment visit to six flood-prone states on July 29 to see first-hand the impact of flooding.

Anita Kiki Gbeho, who doubles UNMISS Deputy Head of Mission and UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, said the meeting is part of a coordinated approach regarding flood preparedness in areas where flooding is already taking place.