Heavy rains, flash floods hit Eastern Darfur, says OCHA
July 28, 2024 (KHARTOUM) – Heavy rainfall and flash floods have affected thousands of people, including internally displaced people (IDPs), host communities, and refugees, in parts of Kassala State, the United Nations said.
The floods, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, have directly impacted 10,178 newly arrived IDPs from Sennar State.
However, authorities, working with humanitarian partners anticipate that the number could be higher as assessment among host community, refugees and IDPs who fled to Kassala after the conflict broke out in April 2023 continue.
OCHA said heavy rains and flooding also affected an unspecified number of people and homes in Aroma, Shamal Al Delta, Reifi Kassala, and Gharb Kassala localities. The newly arrived IDPs from Sennar State were hosted in five gathering sites and reception centers in Kassala town and Gharb Kassala locality.
As challenges of shelter persists, the majority of the affected IDPs have been forced to live in the open with no access to food, clean drinking water, or safe sanitation facilities amid concerns of possible outbreak in water-borne diseases.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) reported that heavy rains, and floods across Aroma town in Reifi Aroma locality, Kassala displaced an estimated 500 people (100 families).
About 100 houses, the IOM field team reported, were destroyed, and all affected people sought shelter with host communities within the same locality.
An estimated 13.4 million people in parts of western and eastern Sudan are projected to face exceptionally heavy rainfall between 24 and 31 July, according to the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC).
As a precautionary measure, the ICPAC Disaster Operations Centre (DOC) advised communities in flood-prone areas, mainly in Kassala to move to higher ground and exercise caution during this period.
(ST)