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The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved an emergency assistance relief package of US$440,000 to fund ongoing humanitarian and emergency relief efforts in areas recently hit by floods in South Sudan and Sudan.

According to a statement from the bank, the package from the Bank’s Special Relief Fund, will be split nearly equally between the two countries and will be used to purchase food items and water and also to cover the implementation costs to be incurred by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

The funding is part of a multinational emergency response to provide relief to flood victims in both countries, where torrential rains have caused rivers to overflow their dykes and banks, disrupting trade routes, damaging crops, killing livestock and submerging houses.

By the end of September, the Food Security Technical Secretariat reported that heavy rains and flooding had affected more than 860,000 people (over 480,000 of them children) in Sudan.

In South Sudan, the UN estimated that more than $80 million is needed for the overall flood response, including $46 million for immediate assistance to 360,000 people until the end of the year. Vast areas of the country along the River Nile are now under water, affecting more than 600,000 people since July.

African Development Bank Country Manager for South Sudan, Benedict Kanu, said more than 100 people died through the disaster in the country, with about 25,000 internally displaced.