In Sudan, floods have already affected more than 50,000 people across the country. Floods in the Nile and heavy rain killed six people on Wednesday, August 18, in the state of the Nile north of the capital. More than 6,000 homes have already been destroyed, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Today, residents of el-Kalakla, a neighborhood south of Khartoum, fear that last year’s catastrophic scenario will repeat itself.
as reported from Khartoum, Eliott Brachet
In Sudan, it is only the beginning of the rainy season that extends until October. The authorities fear that the country will once again experience an unprecedented flood. By 2020, the Nile had floated to its highest level in a century, causing a real humanitarian catastrophe.
In front of his front door, Hiba Fadil Allah is lying on sandbags. His feet brush the surface of the Nile. “This is the barricade we built. But the water came into the house from the other side. If the level increases further, we will be exceeded. We fear that it will be worse than last year. [en 2020 ndlr]. ”
“In three days the embankment collapsed” In some places you have to borrow small wooden boats to cross the streets that have been turned into rivers. At Mohammed Saddiq, water seeped through the ground despite the concrete walls. “Last year, the whole house was engulfed by the Nile. You went on the street, you had water up there, in your chest, he says. The local authorities have introduced a soil pond that is 7 meters wide and 2 meters high. But in three days the dike collapsed ”.
For the neighbor, Shukri Issa, the residents are completely on their own. “Every year we have to face the same thing. The authorities, if they can not build a cornice, can at least provide us with cement for our constructions, the resident complains. People are literally drowning. Some have already left their homes and moved elsewhere ”.
In 2020, there were floods in Sudan destroyed more than 100,000 homes. In el-Kalakla, many residents had taken refuge in a makeshift camp set up on a football field in the middle of the neighborhood.
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