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Khartoum / Omdurman / Wad Madani / Bau / El Tadamon / El Rahad / El Gureisha / Tokar – The unprecedented floods and torrential rains that hit the country for five weeks left at least 102 dead and 46 injured. More than 64,000 houses have been totally or partially collapsed. More than 5,000 head of cattle have died.
At Omdurman, floodwaters ripped through Shagala. People were forced to leave their homes and go to public squares. In Khartoum North, the waters of the Nile flooded Um Dom in the East Nile district and caused the collapse of a large number of houses. Many properties were lost. The victims took refuge in local schools.
The El Gezira Health Ministry in Wad Madani reported that ten more people died and five were injured. 1,269 families have been affected by the rains and floods that hit the state. 608 toilets, 20 government facilities and 247 houses completely collapsed, 904 partially. 58 animals died.
In the state of Blue Nile, torrential rains and floods caused damage in the towns of Bau and El Tadamon, and on the outskirts of the towns of Ed Damazin and El Roseires.
In El Gedaref, a tornado struck the Mafaza area in the town of El Rahad on Saturday. This led to the death of Safya Abdelhafeez, the total collapse of schools and homes, and heavy losses in the village of Balla. Activist El Shafee Zakariya told Radio Dabanga that villagers still live in the open without any shelter. He called on the authorities to intervene urgently and provide shelter material, food and drinking water.
Torrential rains and floods caused the collapse of 100 houses in the town of El Gureisha, in the eastern part of El Gedaref. Some 39 villages in the locality are now completely isolated and threatened by floods. Shihabeldin Wadelyam told Radio Dabanga that families are living in poor humanitarian conditions or are forced to stay with their relatives after their houses collapsed. The area urgently needs road and bridge reconstruction, he said.
The situation in Tokar, Red Sea state, is even worse than before. Journalist Mohamed El Ameen said that 30 percent of the people fled their homes. Expect forced evacuations in case water levels rise. “The disaster is much bigger than it can be done. There is a lack of food and clean water, and all communication networks are out of service,” he said. “The Tokar City Hospital and Press Center are closed due to flooding. Flies and mosquitoes are spreading.”
Irrigation Minister Yasir Abbas waits for the water level of the Nile
The Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasir Abbas, expects a gradual decrease in water levels in the coming weeks. At a press conference yesterday, he said that storing water in the reservoirs of the Roseires Dam in Blue Nile State and the Merowe Dam in North State mitigated this year’s extreme water levels and the severity of the disaster.
The minister declared that Sudan’s dams and reservoirs are safe. He denied that there is a crack in the Jabal Awlia reservoir in the southwestern part of Khartoum, calling this “a rumor intended to create confusion and fear”. The flooding of the Soba and Masoudiya neighborhoods in Khartoum has been caused by the narrowing of the riverbed due to urbanization, he added.
He said that 99 percent of the Nile floods are caused by extremely heavy rains on the Ethiopian plateau. When the construction of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is completed, the flow of the Blue Nile will be regulated and Sudan will no longer experience flooding, he hopes.
Civil defense
Major General Ahmed Omar, director of Sudan’s Civil Defense, urgently urged the government to take practical measures, devise radical solutions, enact laws to prevent the construction of houses on river beds and valleys, review the planning process and relocate to people living in flooded areas. to safe places.
He referred to the decision to evacuate residents of Tokar city and 43 surrounding villages to safe areas. This did not happen because people refused to leave.
The Sudanese high school exams, scheduled to start on September 13, can take place as planned, he said, as there are no problems with the buildings where the exams will take place. There are some difficulties regarding student access to exam centers in some areas of Sudan, he admitted.
On Friday, September 4, the National Defense and Security Council declared the country a “natural disaster zone” following floods in 16 of the 18 states. The state of emergency was imposed throughout the country, for a period of three months.
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A senior committee, headed by the Minister of Labor, will be formed to address the effects of heavy rains and record Nile water levels during this rainy season.
OCHA
According to the Sudan Humanitarian Aid Commission, some 506,000 people have been affected by the rains and floods, more than 110,000 of them in the first week of September alone. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan produced a map showing affected people, destroyed houses and damaged houses in 17 of the 18 states of Sudan.
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