Sudan’s Summer Flooding Continues, Raising Death Toll to 134

FILE - Damage is seen after a heavy rainfall in the village of Aboud in the El-Manaqil district of the Al-Jazirah Province of Sudan, August 22 2022. Flash flooding across Sudan has killed at least 20 people over the past week, raising the official death toll since the rainy season began in May to 134. The country's National Council for Civil Defense said an additional 120 people had been injured in the flooding in the past week. AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)

CAIRO (AP) — Flooding across Sudan has killed at least 20 people over the past week, Sudanese officials announced Thursday, raising the official death-toll from the floods since the rainy season began in May to 134.

The office of Brig. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Abdul-Rahim, the leader of Sudan’s National Council for Civil Defense, said an additional 120 people were injured from the past week’s flooding.

Torrential downpours throughout August and early September — the peak of Sudan’s rainy season — have washed away roads, houses, and vital infrastructure across the country, cutting off supply lines to rural areas in need of humanitarian aid. According to the United Nations’ latest flooding report, some 286,400 people have been affected by the floods and 16,900 homes have been destroyed.

The civil defense council said this year’s deaths included 74 people who drowned, 32 who died when their homes collapsed, and six who were killed in water-related electrocutions.

The rural east and west of the country have been the most affected by this year’s downpours. On Wednesday, Sudan’s state media outlet, SUNA, reported that a newly built sugar factory near the eastern city of Kassala collapsed under heavy rainfall.

In 2020, flooding and heavy rains killed around 100 people and damaged more than 100,000 houses.