Heavy Rainfall Triggers Overnight Flood
Panyijiar County woke on Tuesday to ankle-deep water after a fierce cloudburst the previous night swamped Ganyliel’s lone primary health care centre and its adjoining airstrip. Local staff described the downpour as the heaviest in recent memory, surpassing seasonal norms tracked by county meteorological observers.
Patients Relocated to Safer Ground
County health director Peter Yoak said 24 patients—13 men and 11 women—were carried to an elevated veranda minutes before water reached bed level. “The compound turned into a shallow lake,” he reported, adding that no serious injuries occurred during the hasty relocation.
Facility and Airstrip Remain Submerged
By mid-morning, the clinic’s consultation rooms, pharmacy shelves and solar inverters sat under murky water, while the grass runway became unusable for humanitarian flights. Community volunteer Gideon Makuach confirmed that runoff, not river overflow, caused the inundation, complicating any quick drainage effort.
Officials Appeal for Pumps and Generators
County authorities have requested diesel generators and high-capacity pumps from state and national ministries to clear both the clinic yard and the landing strip. Yoak warned that prolonged flooding could derail vaccination schedules and delay medical evacuations, increasing the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks.
Climate Patterns Raise Future Concerns
Meteorologists link the surge in localized storms to a warming Indian Ocean, which tends to shift rainfall belts inland across the Greater Upper Nile region. Humanitarian analysts caution that without improved drainage infrastructure, critical services in low-lying Ganyliel will face repeated disruptions.