The government of Sudan has declared a three-month state of emergency following torrential floods that have killed at least 99 people.
Heavy rains in over a month have led to one of the worst natural disasters in the country in decades. The floods have injured 46 and left 100,000 damaged properties in their wake.
North Darfur in the country’s west and Sennar state in the south were among the hardest-hit areas.
Heavy rains usually fall in Sudan from June to October, and the country experiences severe flooding every year.
“The Blue Nile reached an all-time high more than a century ago,” the irrigation and water ministry said last week.
The latest report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan said on Thursday that more than 380,000 people had already been “affected” by this year’s floods.
The whole flooding season in 2019 affected 400,000 people, according to an OCHA spokesperson.
The rates of floods and rain for this year exceeded the records set during the years 1946 and 1988, with expectations of continued rising indicators, Minister Lena el-Sheikh added.