WHAT'S COP26 GONNA DO
In South Sudan, flooding called ‘worst thing in my lifetime’
Yel Aguer Deng, who does not know his age, walks through water from his compound to the Wanyhok-Akon road, near Malualkon in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, South Sudan, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. The worst flooding that parts of South Sudan have seen in 60 years now surrounds his home of mud and grass. His field of sorghum, which fed his family, is under water. Surrounding mud dykes have collapsed. The United Nations says the flooding has affected almost a half-million people across South Sudan since May. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
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MALUALKON, South Sudan (AP) — He feels like a man who has drowned.
The worst flooding that parts of South Sudan have seen in 60 years now surrounds his home of mud and grass. His field of sorghum, which fed his family, is under water. Surrounding mud dykes have collapsed.
Other people have fled. Only Yel Aguer Deng’s family and a few neighbors remain.
This is the third straight year of extreme flooding in South Sudan, further imperiling livelihoods of many of the 11 million people in the world’s youngest country. A five-year civil war, hunger and corruption have all challenged the nation. Now climate change, which the United Nations has blamed on the flooding, is impossible to ignore.
As he empties a fishing net, Daniel Deng, a 50-year-old father of seven, recalls a life of being forced to flee again and again because of insecurity. “But this one event (the flood) is too much,” he said. “It is the worst thing that happened in my lifetime.”
The U.N. says the flooding has affected almost a half-million people across South Sudan since May. Here in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, the Lol river has burst its banks.
This state is usually spared from extreme flooding that plagues the South Sudan states of Jonglei and Unity that border the White Nile and the Sudd marshlands. But now, houses and crops have been swamped.
A new report this week coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization warned of increasing such climate shocks to come across much of Africa, the continent that contributes the least to global warming but will suffer from it most.
In these rural South Sudan communities, shelters of braided grass put up a fragile resistance in a land of seemingly endless water.
MALUALKON, South Sudan (AP) — He feels like a man who has drowned.
The worst flooding that parts of South Sudan have seen in 60 years now surrounds his home of mud and grass. His field of sorghum, which fed his family, is under water. Surrounding mud dykes have collapsed.
Other people have fled. Only Yel Aguer Deng’s family and a few neighbors remain.
This is the third straight year of extreme flooding in South Sudan, further imperiling livelihoods of many of the 11 million people in the world’s youngest country. A five-year civil war, hunger and corruption have all challenged the nation. Now climate change, which the United Nations has blamed on the flooding, is impossible to ignore.
As he empties a fishing net, Daniel Deng, a 50-year-old father of seven, recalls a life of being forced to flee again and again because of insecurity. “But this one event (the flood) is too much,” he said. “It is the worst thing that happened in my lifetime.”
The U.N. says the flooding has affected almost a half-million people across South Sudan since May. Here in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, the Lol river has burst its banks.
This state is usually spared from extreme flooding that plagues the South Sudan states of Jonglei and Unity that border the White Nile and the Sudd marshlands. But now, houses and crops have been swamped.
A new report this week coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization warned of increasing such climate shocks to come across much of Africa, the continent that contributes the least to global warming but will suffer from it most.
In these rural South Sudan communities, shelters of braided grass put up a fragile resistance in a land of seemingly endless water.
Children standing on a small mud dyke are reflected in the stagnant water, in Langic, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, South Sudan, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. This is the third straight year of extreme flooding in South Sudan, further imperiling livelihoods in the world's youngest country. A five-year civil war, hunger and corruption have all challenged the nation. Now climate change, which the United Nations has blamed on the flooding, is impossible to ignore.
(AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
In Langic village, Ajou Bol Yel’s family of seven hosted nine neighbors who had lost their homes. The elders sleep outside on beds protected by mosquito nets, while the children share the floor.
In Majak Awar, some 100 families have been displaced twice, in June when homes were flooded and again in August when their shelters were ruined, too.
“I want to leave for Sudan,” whispered Nyibol Arop, a 27-year-old mother of five, as she boiled her morning tea just steps away from the stagnant water that threatens her current shelter.
It is hard to see a stable future when constantly on the move, a lesson learned during the civil war that displaced millions of people before a peace agreement in 2018.
“Floods are not constant. Some people will stay, and some will go,” said Thomas Mapol, a 45-year-old father of nine, as he showed off the destroyed houses of his village near Majak Awar. “But me, I cannot move anywhere. There is no other place that I know.”
Dozens missing in Nepal as floods, mudslides kill over 100 yesterday
People wade past a flooded area in Dipayal Silgadhi, Nepal, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Floods and landslides triggered by days of torrential rains have killed at least 99 people in Nepal since Monday, officials said. (AP Photo/Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi)
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese authorities on Friday searched for dozens of people missing in this week’s heavy rains, floods and landslides, as survivors complained they were yet to receive any government help.
The death toll has crossed 100 in the country’s eastern and western parts, said police spokesperson Basanta Bahadur Kunwar.
At least 40 others have been injured by landslides and house collapses, and another 41 people were missing, Kunwar said.
The downpour subsided in some parts and the weather is expected to improve across the Himalayan nation over the weekend.
Heavy rains also caused havoc in neighboring India this week, killing at least 88 people and flooding roads, destroying bridges and causing landslides that washed away several homes.
On Thursday, Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba visited the flood-stricken areas in the western region and promised a government relief package. However, many families said they were still waiting for government supplies and facing tough times on their own.
Bhimraj Shahi, who lost six family members in landslides in remote Humla district, said rescue teams reached the site more than 10 hours after they were hit on Monday.
“Although there has been an announcement from the government, the actual help hasn’t yet arrived for the family,” said Shahi.
The disasters have wiped out crops and homes, dealing a blow to families already grappling with the devastating fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Azmat Ulla of the International Federation of Red Crescent Societies in Nepal. Red Cross teams were aiding evacuation efforts in both countries.
“The people of Nepal and India are sandwiched between the pandemic and worsening climate disasters, heavily impacting millions of lives and livelihoods,” he added.
Kunwar said rescue teams have been relocating people to safer locations and taking dozens of injured to hospitals.
Authorities were still trying to ascertain the number of displaced and the full extent of damage.
Landslides and floods are common in India’s Himalayan north. Scientists say they are becoming more frequent as global warming contributes to the melting of glaciers.
In February, flash floods killed nearly 200 people and washed away houses in northern Uttarakhand state in India. In 2013, thousands of people were killed in floods there.
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