A wheeled loader cleans swept trees following a devastating flood, with the Red Sea mountains visible in the background, in Port Sudan, Sudan, August 27, 2024.“A disaster piled on top of horror” – this is how the United Nations Spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, has described the latest humanitarian disaster to hit war-ravagedin the east of the country that killed at least 30 people with the death toll almost certain to rise substantially.
Local authorities also report that 70 villages around the dam have been impacted by its collapse as a result of heavy rains and flooding in the region, while 20 villages have been totally destroyed. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is leading an inter-agency team to the impacted area to do assessments in order to determine the extent of the damage and people’s most urgent needs.
The broader consequences of the dam’s collapse are yet to be fully realised in a country suffering one of the world’sFlooding in west Sudan has also hampered desperately needed food deliveries in that region of the country. The Sudan Government earlier this month also declared a cholera outbreak in displacement camps in the states of Kassala, Gedaref and al-Jazirah that has already claimed 28 lives, affecting hundreds more – in a war-weary nation now battling crises – man-made and natural on all fronts.