Unity State still underwater, says minister

The Minister of Animal Resources, Fisheries, and Tourism in Unity State James Tumguar Ruach has said the flood-hit areas are still recovering from the situation.

“We are now making surrounding dikes in the institutions and we also decided to fetch out the water so that we start our normal work,” Tumguar told The City Review on Thursday in a phone interview.

He said despite the difficult situation created by the floods, they did not stop working and all they do is put on gumboots while in the office.

“The water is still in our office compounds up to this moment but it has not entered inside the offices and that is why we can walk around the compound with gumboots,” he explained

The United Nations Coordination Office of the Humanitarian Affairs said more than 466,000 people have been affected by flooding in areas along the Nile and Lol rivers and Sudd marshlands since May.

That reflects a 23 percent increase in the numbers of people reported to be affected since the end of August. Jonglei, Unity State, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Upper Nile are the worst affected states.

The International Organisation Immigration’s recent reports on Unity State alone indicate the flooded-related displacement across various counties in Unity State as tracked by IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) mainly in the areas of Panyijar, Rubkona, and Mayiendit shows 66,369 as of the date of October 9, 2021.

“All of us are affected by the floods in Unity State. Most of the areas in Rubkona now are all flooded but the governor is struggling to build dikes in order avoid the water from coming in 90 percent of the Unity State is covered by the floods,” Tumguar said.

“Our biggest problem now is the floods that have affected our people, all their crops and their domestic animals have been lost or displaced and others died because of different outbreak diseases due to the floods,” he said.

“They confirmed the dead cows are 578 and the goats and sheep are 629. This is from July to September and this is the report that is reported by the county directors by the Ministry of Animals resources, Fisheries, and Tourism in the state,” he lamented.

“We are yet to receive the reports for October because some animals are in deep villages in the flooded areas and others are sick so more might die.”

He also urged the government and other institutions that deal in fishing to help and give support and find a solution to the fishermen in the state.

On October 5, Unity State governor Joseph Wejang Monytuil said 90 percent of the state had been affected by the floods.

One area that was said to be the most affected is Panyier- an area that has been waterlogged for the last two years.

“We are unable to access Panyjier, we even have non-food items that we would like to transport to them but we [are] not able to reach the place,” said Unity State Governor Lt. Gen Joseph Wejang Monytuil.

The governor said Mayendit, Leer, Kon, Kuch, Mayom, Panyjier, and Gwuit are the most affected areas in the state.

 “90 percent of the state is affected with floods, most people have been displaced, cattle keepers have lost their animals during their journey moving away from the areas that are flooded,” he lamented.