As Liberia’s rainy season gets underway, the country’s national disaster agency warns it is not prepared for what could become one of the worst flooding seasons in recent history. International forecasts warn that more than 825,000 people are at risk in the coming weeks. As the rainy season, that began in June, intensifies causing flooding across the country’s western, central, and eastern counties, the agency is racing to finalize an emergency response plan. But with key coordination structures still incomplete and no funds received from the Finance Ministry, officials warn they are facing a potential humanitarian emergency in coming months.
By Aria Deemie, climate change reporter with New Narratives
Ansu E. S. Dulleh Sr., executive director of the National Disaster Management Agency, during an interview at the agency’s headquarters in Monrovia. Credit: Aria Deemie
Flooding has already affected up to 30,000 people, said Ansu Dulleh, executive director of the National Disaster Management Agency. He warned the public to prepare.
“The worst is yet to come,” Dulleh said. “People must prepare mentally and psychologically. Homes will flood. Families will have to move. And the government alone cannot handle what’s coming.”
Last year’s floods — the deadliest in recent memory — killed at least nine people, including two toddlers, and displaced more than 100,000 across 60 communities. Despite the Disaster Agency having a $1.4 million budget, none of that money reached victims in the critical months after the disaster. An investigation by FrontPage Africa and New Narratives in the months after the floods revealed the agency failed to deliver promised aid, with residents accusing staff of stealing and reselling relief supplies.
“We feel abandoned,” one community leader told FPA. All assistance came from private donors and humanitarian groups, including the Red Cross and the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. Experts warn that without urgent investment in flood preparedness, these climate-driven disasters will only get worse.
This year’s national budget allocates just $750,000 to the disaster agency but “not a single dollar has been released,” according to Dulleh. “When you look at all those variables together, it shows that this year’s flooding will be devastating for families.
During last year’s rainy season, Rivercess County experienced severe flooding that destroyed homes and businesses, including Princess Nanna’s provision shop. Photo by Eric Opa Duoe.
Multiple text messages to Urey K. Yarkpawolo, the Environmental Protection Agency boss, and Agency leadership, seeking a response to whether the agency has reviewed the latest climate forecasts or contributed to the national flood response plan, went unanswered.
A Worsening Forecast
Liberia lacks the capacity to make season long rainfall predictions that would help farmers and vulnerable communities prepare for risk. But weekly projections, issued jointly by the United Nations and the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development, warned of flash floods, landslides, and infrastructure failure across Liberia and neighboring West African countries.
According to the projections 825,000 people across Liberia were exposed to moderate to heavy rain in the first week of this month, alone. August and September are typically the worst months for flooding.
Flooding forecasts for the West African region showed 825,000 people in Liberia faced moderate to heavy rainfall in the first week of July, UNOCHA Flooding outlook.
Urban settings are often most at risk because low levels of awareness of how to avoid flooding risk, and week enforcement of building and sanitation rules, has led many people to build on swamps and drainage systems that would otherwise absorb the floodwaters.
Dulleh said up to 200,000 people could be displaced in the coming weeks if rainfall trends continue. He said counties like Montserrado, Bong, Nimba, Grand Bassa, and River Cess are most at risk of flooding due to rising water levels and poor drainage.
Implementation Stalled by Lack of Funds
In preparation for this year’s floods. Dulleh said the government has outlined a flood response plan and held meetings with ministries and technical agencies.
“All our clusters have been activated. We’ve held meetings with line ministries and agencies. The preparation of human resources is also ready,” said Dulleh. “So everything is now set as it relates to our response and human recovery process.”
But there is little money to support these plans. According to Dulleh, the government did not consult the agency when planning this year’s budget. “They just gave us a ceiling, and that ceiling, besides salaries, was placed under contingency. When they say ‘contingency,’ it means the money isn’t really there. If they find it, they’ll give it to you.”
“We don’t have money on hand,” Dulleh said. “We’ve written to the Ministry of Finance on several occasions. They’re not making funding available for emergency preparations. Only salaries—nothing substantial.”
Despite owning several trucks and water tankers, field operations are hampered by manpower shortages. “Everyone who works with us in the counties is a volunteer. They need to be formally employed,” said Dulleh. “And departments within (the Agency) that should be activated still aren’t functioning properly.”
Relief supplies are also scarce. The agency currently holds only about “1,000 bags of rice and just over 100 mattresses” to distribute in case of displacement.
The good news is that the government has a new option this year should a crisis recur. After the rainy season in 2024, the World Bank approved a $US20 million Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option for Liberia — including $5 million from the Crisis Response Window that provides emergency funding when Liberia faces a declared natural disaster or public health emergency. Once approved funds are disbursed quickly – typically within days – to support vulnerable populations and maintain basic services. The loan will add to Liberia’s mounting debt but it carries very low interest rates and long repayment times.
Early Warning System Delay Under Weah Administration Haunts Disaster Preparations
Dulleh’s concerns come three months after FrontPage Africa/New Narratives found that a $10 million early weather hazard warning system, backed by the Green Climate, that would help warn vulnerable communities of impending heavy rainfall, had been delayed by several years because of mismanagement during former President George Weah’s administration.
A 2023 review by the African Development Bank which was implementing the project, cited staffing shortfalls, inflated salary claims, and the appointment of a politically connected official without proper disclosure, as causes for delays that stretched from the project’s approval in 2020 to the start of the Boakai administration in January 2024. Although the Green Climate Fund disbursed $4.17 million to the African Development Bank in November 2022, no funds reached the Environmental Protection Agency – the government’s implementing agency—because key conditions had not been met.
“We don’t have a functional early warning system because we don’t have an active climate information system that does real-time climate prediction,” said Nathaniel Blama, who led the Environment Protection Agency when the project was approved. He said the system was designed to provide the scientific forecasting needed to support early warnings, evacuation protocols, and long-term national planning. “Without that, we can’t alert communities or plan evacuations.”
Since taking office in February 2024, the Boakai administration Environmental Agency boss Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo has revived the project. He says internal oversight structures have been put in place and coordination with the African Development Bank is back on track. The Green Climate Fund confirmed in an email that those conditions have now been fulfilled and the first disbursement from the Bank should come shortly.
Officials expect the system to provide some predictions ahead of next year’s rainy season. For now, the National Disaster Management Agency continues to rely on fragmented sources.
“Our early warning system is being fed by the Liberia Meteorological Center under the Ministry of Transport, and also by the meteorological station at the airport, as well as international organizations like the UNDP,” said Dulleh Sr., the Agency’s executive director.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives. Funding was provided by the American Jewish World Service. The donor had no say in the story’s content.
