Sisi orders aid to be sent to flood-affected Sudan

CAIRO - 15 August 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi ordered on Wednesday emergency aid to be sent to Sudan as floods are hitting the Arab country, presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi stated.

Heavy floods at En Nahud town in West Kordofan have killed at least 23 people and injured 61 others in the past three weeks while more than 8,900 families have been evicted, according to WRAL.com website.

Dabanga Sudan reported that more than 4,000 people affected by floods are still in dire need of humanitarian intervention.


Flood damage in Sennar - Photo Credit: Dabanga Sudan

The Red Crescent stated that the rainfall has affected over 45,000 people and caused big damage to the country’s infrastructure, however, more heavy rainfall is expected in other parts of Sudan.

Seasonal rains in Sudan regularly last from June to November, causing the Nile and its tributaries to overflow.

Earlier Wednesday, 22 students and their teacher drowned when a boat carrying more than 40 people sank while crossing the Nile in northern Sudan, state news agency SUNA said.

Civil defense forces were searching the waters for the missing passengers but had not recovered the bodies, the agency added. A female hospital employee also drowned.

Contributed by MENA and Reuters