(Khartoum) At least 112 people have died and tens of thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed in Sudan due to torrential rains since the start of the rainy season in May, police said on Sunday.
Posted at 10:22
Heavy rains usually fall in Sudan between May and October, causing severe flooding that damages homes, infrastructure and crops.
The toll now stands at “112 dead and 115 injured,” said Abdeljalil Abdelrahim, spokesperson for the National Council for Civil Defense (NCCD).
“A total of 34,944 homes were totally destroyed while 49,060 were partially damaged,” he told AFP.
Khartoum declared a state of emergency in August due to heavy flooding in six Sudanese states as the country plunged into a severe economic crisis.
According to the UN, one in three Sudanese needs humanitarian aid, inflation is close to 200% every month, the currency is in freefall and, since the putsch led on October 25, 2021 by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, the price of bread has increased tenfold.
Citing government data, the UN said last week that the floods affected 226,000 people across Sudan.
The states of Nile, North Kordofan, South Kordofan, Kassala and Gedaref as well as the Darfur region are among the most affected, according to UNICEF.
The UN further warns that the floods could affect some 460,000 people this year, far more than the annual average of 388,600 recorded between 2017 and 2021.