Dead and dozens missing after dam burst in Sudan

This article was last updated on August 26, 2024

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Dead and dozens missing after dam burst in Sudan

Dozens of people have gone missing in northeastern Sudan due to flooding caused by a dam burst after heavy rains. At least four people have died, but many more are feared. A local official spoke of at least sixty deaths.

In the Red Sea state, which borders the sea of ​​the same name, houses near the Arbaat dam have been flooded. Emergency services have been sent to the area to rescue people who fled to higher ground and became trapped there.

According to the head of water management, the damage is significant. The reservoir at the Arbaat dam provided the population with drinking water.

Country at war

The dam is located 40 kilometers north of Port Sudan, a coastal city where many of the country’s top officials fled after a civil war broke out in April 2023 between government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The war has destroyed civilian infrastructure, as well as the already inadequate healthcare system. It is estimated that tens of thousands of people have died and more than ten million people have fled the violence. More than half of the population of over 25 million people is in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The population is further threatened by a cholera outbreak, fueled by flooding and poor sanitation. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak on August 12. Since then, the number of infections rose to 650 and the number of deaths to 28, spread across five states.

Relief supplies

Last week came for the first time since February relief supplies into the state of Darfur, via the city of Adré in the east of neighboring Chad. The border was kept closed by the government army for a long time, because the RSF militia controls most of Darfur. The government says it will keep the border crossing open for three months to get more food aid into the country.

A report by an international organization recently found that some 500,000 residents of the Zamzam refugee camp in northern Darfur go hungry. The Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission denied then it is certain that there is famine in the camp.