Sudan: UN warns of catastrophic situation due to floods

The United Nations has announced that 650,000 persons have been affected by the floods in Sudan, adding that the situation will get worse in the coming days.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Monday evening that “at least 650,000 people have been affected since the start of the rains in Sudan, more than 111,000 in the first week of September alone.”

The statement explained that the government and aid workers are helping 200,000 people in the affected areas, but the unprecedented floods exceeded all estimations, which resulted in a severe shortage of relief supplies allocated by humanitarian organisations to face the crisis.

The statement added that people are in urgent need of shelter, drinking water, non-food items and sanitation services, in addition to the need to prepare for an efficient response to epidemics and contagious diseases which will result from the floods.

The UN agency expected that the situation will deteriorate in the coming days, as heavy rains expected to fall in Ethiopia and parts of Sudan could increase water levels in the Blue Nile, which will intensify the damages.

On Monday, Sudan announced that the number of recorded deaths in the country due to floods had risen to 114 since the beginning of June. Some 83,516 homes have been damaged, including 32,964 houses that were entirely destroyed, and 50,552 houses that were partially damaged. This is in addition to the 43,425 acres of farmland which were damaged and 5,482 heads of livestock which died.

On 5 September, the Sudanese Security and Defence Council declared a national state of emergency for three months and designated the country a natural disaster zone as a result of the floods.

UN: More than half a million people affected by Sudan floods