Flooding in Sudan causes dam to collapse, destroys villages and kills dozens | Sudan

A flood wave has broken through a dam in eastern Sudan, destroying at least 20 villages. At least 30 people have died, but many more are likely, the United Nations said. The flood devastated a region that is already suffering from the consequences of a months-long civil war.

Heavy rains caused flooding that overwhelmed the Arbaat Dam on Sunday. The dam is located 40 kilometers north of Port Sudan, the country's de facto capital and seat of the government, diplomats, aid organizations and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

“The area is unrecognizable,” said Omar Eissa Haroun, head of the Red Sea State Water Authority, in a WhatsApp message to employees. “The electricity and water lines are destroyed.”

A first responder said between 150 and 200 people were missing. He said he had seen the bodies of gold miners and some of their equipment destroyed by the flood, and compared the disaster to the devastation in the eastern Libyan city of Derna in September last year, when floods broke dams, washed away buildings and killed thousands.

On the road to Arbaat on Monday, a Reuters reporter saw people burying a man and covering his grave with driftwood to prevent it from being washed away by mudslides.

The houses of around 50,000 people have been affected by the floods, the UN said, citing local authorities. However, the number of those affected only refers to the area west of the dam, as the area east of it is inaccessible.

The dam was the main source of water for Port Sudan, the country's main Red Sea port and airport, from where most of the country's urgently needed aid supplies are delivered.

Officials said the dam began to crumble and mud built up during days of heavy rains that began much earlier than usual. Sudan's dams, roads and bridges were already in poor condition before the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023.

Since then, both sides have invested most of their resources in the conflict and severely neglected infrastructure.

Some people fled their flooded homes and fled to the mountains, where they are now stranded, the Health Ministry said.

On Monday, the government's rainy season task force said 132 people had died in floods across the country, compared with 68 two weeks ago. At least 118,000 people have been left homeless by the rains this year, according to UN agencies.