**Fatshimetrie: Inside the humanitarian crisis of floods in South Sudan**
The flood season in South Sudan, once a predictable fact of life, has become an annual disaster, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and plunging communities into ever-deepening crisis. Families like that of Nyabuot Reat Kuor, a mother displaced from her home in Gorwai, are suffering the devastating consequences of this weather phenomenon.
“When we were in Gorwai, the floods were too bad. They destroyed our farm and permanently displaced us,” says Nyabuot. “We don’t know what caused the floods, but they destroyed our land and killed our livestock. When we were displaced from our homes, we only had wild plants to eat.”
Nyabuot now lives with her family along the Jonglei Canal, a century-old unfinished waterway that has become a lifeline for more than 69,000 displaced people in Ayod County. Villagers survive on food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP), wild plants and water lilies from the marsh when aid runs out.
According to the UN humanitarian agency, more than 379,000 people have been displaced by flooding this year alone. South Sudan, which the World Bank has called the country most vulnerable to climate change, is ill-prepared to deal with the scourge. Infrastructure is crumbling and years of civil war have left a government unable to cope with crises such as flooding, which continues to engulf villages, destroy farmland and kill livestock.
Humanitarian Aid by Air
The displaced communities in Ayod County are almost completely cut off from the rest of the world. Roads are impassable and canals are too shallow to allow boats loaded with food to pass through. Aid can only arrive by air.
“We actually deliver food by airdrop,” says John Kimemia, WFP’s airdrop coordinator. “Before we deliver, we have to prepare the ground for a drop zone. In this case, the area had not been cleared, so we had to get help from the community to clear it. There is no access by road or canal at the moment.”
Despite WFP’s efforts, resources are stretched. Food aid rations have been cut in half in recent years due to declining international funding. When aid runs out, displaced families are left with no choice but to fend for themselves.
Survival in Isolation
The isolation of these communities only compounds their challenges. In Pajiek village, the Ayod county headquarters is only accessible after a six-hour trek through waist-deep water. There is no mobile phone signal, no government presence and no regular access to health care.
At the health centre in Paguong village, surrounded by flooded land, doctors have not been paid since June. Patients, mostly women and children, lie on the ground waiting for treatment amid fears of the area’s venomous snakes.
South Sudan’s economic woes have been compounded by a damaged oil pipeline in neighbouring Sudan, disrupting exports due to the ongoing civil war. Government workers across the country have been unpaid for more than a year.
Climate and Conflict
Repeated flooding has been linked to factors including the opening of dams upstream in Uganda and rising water levels in Lake Victoria. South Sudan’s wetlands, the Sudd Marshes, have expanded dramatically since the 1960s, submerging more land and displacing more people.
As the crisis deepens, the unfinished Jonglei Canal, a colonial-era project to divert water north toward Egypt, has become a refuge for families seeking higher ground.
But for displaced people like Nyabuot Reat Kuor, life remains precarious. “We survive on what we find,” she says. “Wild plants, water lilies. We just want food and help to live.”
The floods in South Sudan are not only a climate disaster, but also a humanitarian emergency, exposing the fragility of a nation grappling with conflict, poverty, and climate vulnerability. For Nyabuot and thousands of others, survival is hanging by a thread.