It is very sad to hear about devastation caused by floods in the country. The news from Luri River west of Juba where some eighteen passengers coming in a truck from Western Equatoria State to Juba are believed to have got drown was bad.

There were other precious lives of our citizens taken by floods in other states like Lakes and Unity State. While rains can be considered as blessings to the people of South Sudan who need them for cultivation in their gardens so that they can have plenty of food crops to harvest and be self-dependent in food, in some areas they have become a great human hazards. Since rains from the heavens cannot be controlled by human beings what we can do is to control their movements on the ground in order to save human lives.

Yes, on the ground human beings can control floods! For example, Luri River can be prevented from taking valuable human lives by passing information to drivers and people who want to use the road passing over its unreliable bridge to avoid coming that way when the river is over flooded.

Recently the Deputy Minister and Undersecretary of Ministry of Roads and Bridges visited River Luri to inspect its falling bridge and it was reported that there was no passage across the river and those passengers destined for the states in the west should take alternative road which passes through Yei, Tore on to Maridi and Yambio.

Since it will not be soon when the bridge over Luri River will be repaired or a new one to be constructed, government authorities have to be alert all the time and to inform the citizens about weather conditions such that when there are heavy downpours of rains and the rivers are over flooded these have to be announced over the local FM radio stations in the states so that people intending to travel have to be aware of the conditions of the roads they are to use.

Through announcing information on the local FM stations a lot of citizens can be saved from death through floods thus unnecessary deaths can be prevented. Broadcasters are advised to help the people by informing them timely about the weather conditions to save them from dangers of floods.

It is not too late the many FM in the country can do some life-saving service by closely monitoring the weather conditions from meteorology department who are supposed to forecast the weather.

One of the services the media organs especially the radio and television stations can render to the listeners and viewers is broadcasting frequently of the weather forecasts. Most newspapers because of being issued once in most cases in the morning can do practically very little in this respect.

Another way of preventing floods from killing citizens especially in their residential areas as some houses were reportedly washed down is by communities joining hands with the local authorities and making embankments using earth to divert the flow of the floods water from going towards villages. In some cases canals can be dug so that the flow of floods water is controlled.

All these interventions need involvement of surveyors in the states so that they can help the people by giving them advice on landscapes and the directions to which they can divert floods.