The council also introduced the formation of a supreme committee under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Labor and Social Growth to deal with the impacts of the floods for the autumn of 2020.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke said the government has declared a state of emergency in Khartoum state alone, where more than 21,000 people have been affected by flooding since the end of July.

Homes destroyed, water contaminated

Across Sudan, some 37,000 homes were destroyed in the floods, forcing families to seek shelter with relatives and host communities. Another 39,000 houses have been damaged, along with 34 schools and nearly 2,700 health facilities.

 “Access to clean water - critical in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic - has also been affected”, said Laerke, speaking from Geneva. “Some 2,000 water sources are contaminated or non-functional, according to initial assessments.”

The flooding has also impacted an estimated 125,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), the UN refugee agency, UNHCR added.

Spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said rains have been particularly heavy in North Darfur state, leaving an estimated 35,000 IDPs, locals and refugees in need of help, where 15 people have died and a further 23 have gone missing.

“In Khartoum’s ‘Open Areas’ on the outskirts of the city, many South Sudanese refugees were living in make-shift homes and are in dire need of shelter,” she said.

“UNHCR is deeply saddened at the death of an 18-month old refugee girl who drowned in a collapsed latrine,” she added. (ILKHA)