Sudan floods wipe off thousands of homes

At least 184 people injured and 6,100 families near capital Khartoum and from Nile and North Kordofah states.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/

More than 3,000 homes have been destroyed by floods that hit almost half of Sudan’s states over Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holidays, official media said.

At least 184 people were injured and 6,100 families were displaced many of whom were from the Nile and North Kordofah states, the SUNA news agency reported on Saturday.

“Twenty-two districts in eight states were affected by flooding and heavy rain,” the report said citing the federal health ministry.

Homes in the capital Khartoum were also inundated when rain and high winds lashed the region on Tuesday night and on July 25 at the start of the rainy season.

Among the victims were more than 3,000 residents of Jaborona, near Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, said Kabi Jeremiah, humanitarian attache at the South Sudanese embassy.

Shelters housing mostly South Sudanese residents in Sudan’s capital have also been destroyed, he told AFP on Thursday.

“That one is washed away,” he said.

Residents tried to move their meagre belongings to dry ground while they manually dug out channels to drain the water, according to the South Sudanese embassy.

Thousands of impoverished South Sudanese have been living in rough shelters in Jaborona and numerous other outdoor settlements in the Khartoum area.

They have been waiting in vain for assistance to travel to South Sudan after the country’s independence three years ago.

Flooding in Sudan in August last year affected up to half a million people and killed 50.