Liberia: Red Cross Launches Cash Aid for 7,500 Flood Victims

Published: September 23, 2026

Third emergency response of 2026 brings the organization’s disaster spending this year above US$1.1 million

The Liberia National Red Cross Society will provide cash assistance to 1,375 families affected by August flooding in six counties.

MONROVIA – More than 7,500 people hit by August flooding in six counties will receive cash to buy food and repair their homes under a Liberia National Red Cross Society response that brings the organization’s emergency spending this year above US$1.1 million.

By Lennart Dodoo

The flood operation, the Red Cross’s third disaster response of 2026, will give unconditional cash assistance to 1,375 families, totaling 7,525 people, in Bong, Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Margibi, Montserrado and Nimba counties, the organization said. Of those families, 350 whose homes were destroyed or left unsafe to live in will receive additional cash to rebuild or repair them.

“Over one million dollars in assistance is not just a figure; it is relief for thousands of families who do not have to face fire, windstorm and flood alone,” said Gregory T. Blamoh, secretary general and CEO of the society.

Preliminary assessments cited by the Red Cross found that more than 76,000 people in over 15,200 households were affected by the flooding and more than 5,000 were displaced. The cash program will reach about one in 10 affected people.

Prolonged, exceptionally heavy rainfall in August overwhelmed rivers and drainage systems across several counties at once, the Red Cross said. The organization said thousands of houses, schools, health facilities and community structures were damaged or destroyed, water sources were contaminated, and roads, bridges and markets were damaged.

Families that depend on farming, petty trading, fishing and daily wage labor lost food stocks, belongings and income, raising the risk of food insecurity, the Red Cross said. Its assessments also found a higher risk of waterborne disease and malaria and growing psychosocial distress among those affected.

Beyond the cash grants, the response includes repairing damaged hand pumps and wells, distributing water treatment chemicals and handing out mosquito nets.

The flood operation is funded with more than US$584,000 from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Disaster Response Emergency Fund and the Swedish Red Cross, the organization said. The European Union covers nearly 45 percent of the IFRC fund’s share, more than US$230,000.

The flood response follows two completed operations this year. After windstorms in Nimba and Lofa counties, the Red Cross provided cash and shelter-building materials to 2,792 people in 213 families. After fire outbreaks in Montserrado, Margibi, Nimba, Rivercess and Grand Cape Mount counties, it gave the same assistance to 1,643 people in 176 families.

The organization did not say how much each of the three responses cost.

Red Cross teams will carry out detailed assessments and physical verification in the coming weeks, and the organization said it will explain selection criteria to communities before collecting any beneficiary data. The Red Cross said the government has also supported its disaster work this year, and it called on partners and the public to support its emergency operations.