Floods have burst a dam in eastern Sudan, destroying at least 20 villages and killing at least 30 people but possibly many more, according to the United Nations, causing devastation in a region already in turmoil after months of civil war.
Torrential rains caused flooding and the collapse of the Albert Dam on Sunday, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Port Sudan, the de facto capital and home to the government, diplomats, aid agencies and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
“The area is beyond recognition,” Omar Eissa Haroon, head of the Red Sea state’s water department, said in a WhatsApp message to officials. “Electricity and water pipes have been destroyed.”
One rescue worker said between 150 and 200 people were missing. He said he had seen bodies and parts of gold miners’ equipment destroyed by the floods, and likened the disaster to that in September last year when a heavy rainstorm burst a dam in the eastern Libyan city of Derna, washing away buildings and killing thousands.
On the road to Arbat on Monday, a Reuters reporter saw people burying a man and covering his grave with driftwood to prevent it being swept away by a landslide.
The floods had damaged the homes of about 50,000 people, the UN said, citing local authorities, adding that that figure only covered areas west of the dam, with areas to the east inaccessible.
The dam is the main water source for Port Sudan, the country’s main Red Sea port and airport, and through which much of the country’s badly needed aid reaches the city.
Officials said several days of heavy rains, which arrived much earlier than normal, caused dams to begin collapsing and sediment to build up. Sudan’s dams, roads and bridges were already in disrepair before the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023.
Since then, both sides have focused most of their resources on the conflict, leaving the infrastructure in severe disrepair.
Some people fled their flooded homes and fled to mountainous areas, where they are now stranded, the health ministry said.
The government’s rainy season task force said on Monday that 132 people had been killed in floods across the country, up from 68 two weeks ago. A United Nations agency said the rains this year have forced at least 118,000 people to flee.
