Some of the worst floods to hit South Sudan in decades has affected over 800,000 people. This is the third straight year of extreme flooding in South Sudan; since May this year, flooding has hit eight of the 10 states. Jonglei, Unity, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile states, all in the northern half of the country, are the worst affected. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are responding to the floods in Jonglei and Unity states.

People’s homes and livelihoods (crops and cattle), as well as health facilities, schools, and markets, are submerged by floodwaters. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, and already existing displacement camps are at risk of being completely flooded, leading to even further displacement. An estimated 32,000 people have fled rising floodwaters in the surrounding villages and counties of Guit and Nhyaldu, and are now living in four makeshift camps in Bentiu town. Meanwhile, the number of people in Bentiu internally displaced persons camp (formerly a Protection of Civilians site) has grown by 12,000 in just a couple of months, and now holds at least 120,000 people, with thousands more likely to have arrived in the past weeks.

The floods have further impacted many of the 11 million people in the country who are already in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Following the newest floods, people are in need of immediate assistance with medical care, food, and safe water, and non-food items such as shelter, mosquito nets and cooking pots. 

In Bentiu camp, the living conditions are dire. The sewage treatment site has been cut off for weeks by floodwater, meaning that the few latrines in the camp that were usable are now next to none. As more and more people arrive to the camp due to the flooding, there is visibly more open defecation, with excreta (faeces and urine) seeping from overflowing latrines into open drains. Additionally, people do not have enough water or water storage, there is no garbage collection resulting in waste building up at an alarming rate, while dead animals (goats and dogs) are left rotting in the drainage systems.

With the already deplorable conditions even further worsened by the influx of new arrivals, people are at higher risk to outbreaks and waterborne diseases such as hepatitis E, acute watery diarrhoea, cholera and malaria.