KHARTOUM, Aug 22 (NNN-XINHUA) — Heavy rains and flooding from Sudan’s rainy season, which began in June, have resulted in 114 fatalities, the Sudanese Health Ministry reported.
The ministry’s Autumn Emergency Room said in a statement that the death toll has risen to 114, with 281 injuries reported. Ten states have been affected, impacting 27,278 families and 110,278 individuals.
On Aug. 10, the ministry reported 53 deaths and 208 injuries from floods and rains in nine states during June and July.
Flooding is a recurring problem in Sudan, typically occurring between June and October. Recent severe rains have resulted in significant loss of life and damage to agricultural land.
This year’s rainy season has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, which is already grappling with a deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Since April 15, 2023, the conflict has displaced millions of people within Sudan and forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighboring countries.
According to the latest UN data, about 10.7 million people are internally displaced within Sudan, with approximately 2.2 million seeking refuge abroad.
MEANWHILE, in a breakthrough, more than a dozen aid trucks, including from two UN agencies, have crossed into Sudan’s Darfur region from Chad, UN humanitarians said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) were among the dozen vehicles allowed across the key Adre crossing.
OCHA said the crossing is the most effective and direct cross-border route to deliver humanitarian assistance to Sudan at the scale and speed required to respond to the enormous hunger crisis in the country. WFP reported that trucks can cross into Darfur via Adre and reach key distribution points the same day.
“It is critical to sustain the flow of food and nutrition assistance into and across Sudan, where more than a dozen areas are either in or at risk of famine,” the office said. “WFP is scaling up food assistance there and aims to support more than 8 million people by the end of the year.”
OCHA said WFP reported its trucks carried sorghum, pulses, oil and rice for 13,000 people at risk of famine in Kereneik, West Darfur, and IOM reported the essential relief items it delivered to Sudan will support more than 12,000 people in need.
The humanitarian office said it continues to engage with the Sudanese authorities to facilitate additional trucks in the coming days and months.
The Famine Review Committee, known as the IPC, on Aug. 1 confirmed famine in Zamzam camp sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced people in North Darfur. It blamed the famine on the civil war in Sudan, displacement and humanitarian access constraints. — NNN-XINHUA
