CORRECTS - UN humanitarian office says over 350,000 people urgently need assistance in flood-hit Republic of Congo

CORRECTS TO REPUBLIC OF CONGO, NOT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, IN PARAGRAPHS 1 and 7 AND HEADLINE

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN on Friday said that more than 350,000 people in the Republic of Congo need urgent humanitarian assistance due to extreme rainfall in recent weeks.

Calling the flood disaster in the country "unprecedented in scale for six decades," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a briefing in Geneva that nine out of the country's 12 departments remain under water some three weeks after an emergency was declared on Dec. 29 and a total of 1.8 million people are affected.

"More than 350,000 people urgently need humanitarian assistance, but access is a challenge because of the floods and many villages can only be reached by boat or canoe," Laerke said.

He stressed that the floods have left local communities without shelter or access to primary health services, adding that there is "limited or no access" to clean drinking water or sanitation in the worst-affected areas.

Some 27,000 children are out of school, he stated.

Warning that the floods could also have longer-term consequences, he said: "Our initial assessments estimate that 2,300 hectares of cultivated land have been flooded, which raise concern that means to produce food, for example fruit trees and fishing gear, has been destroyed and livestock has perished."

Laerke said that for immediate response, UN agencies and the Republic of Congo government gathered a total budget of $26 million, prioritizing shelter, food security, nutrition, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

"To support the initial response, an allocation of $3.6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund has been made to address the most pressing needs of 270,000 people," Laerke said. "However, to implement the response, more international funding will be needed."