Floods following heavy rains have killed more than 80 people in Sudan and damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, a Sudanese official said Monday.
“A total of 84 people have been killed and 67 injured in 11 Sudanese states since the rainy season began,” said Abdel Jalil Abdelreheem, spokesman for Sudan’s National Civil Defense Council.
The deaths are due to drowning, electrocution and collapsed houses, he said. Some 8,400 homes were destroyed and more than 27,200 damaged across the country.
Heavy rains usually fall in Sudan between June and October, and the country faces severe flooding each year that damages or destroys property, infrastructure and crops. The United Nations estimates that the heavy rains and flooding have affected 102,000 people since July.
Nearly 50 villages have been submerged in southern Sudan, displacing 65,000 people, including South Sudanese refugees whose camps were flooded, the UN said in a report last week.
In 2020, the rains forced the country to declare a three-month state of emergency, with at least 650,000 people affected and more than 110,000 homes damaged or destroyed.