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Sudan: Weekly Floods Round-up, No. 02 - 14 August 2022

Countries
Sudan
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

As of 14 August, the estimated number of people affected by heavy rains and floods since May is about 136,000 people, according to the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), humanitarian organizations on the ground, and local authorities. Torrential rains and floods destroyed about 8,900 houses and damaged another 20,600 in 12 states. The National Council for Civil Defence reported on 13 August that 52 people died and another 25 injured since the beginning of the rainy season.

The affected states are Central Darfur (38,390 people), South Darfur (28,730), River Nile (15,720), West Darfur (15,500), White Nile (13,920), West Kordofan (5,860), South Kordofan (5,770), North Kordofan (4,410), East Darfur (3,650), Sennar (3,160), Kassala (750) and North Darfur (210).

In addition, the floods have reportedly affected 238 health facilities, 1,560 water sources and over 1,500 latrines were damaged or washed away. People have lost over 331 head of livestock and over 5,200 feddans (18.9 km2) of agricultural land were affected by floods.

Compared to the same period of 2021, the number of affected people and localities this year has doubled. In 2022, more than 460,000 people could be affected by the floods, according to the 2022 Sudan Emergency Response Plan (ERP). In 2021, about 314,500 people were affected across Sudan, while between 2017 and 2021 on average 388,600 people have affected annually.

According to the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) forecast for 9-16 August, extremely heavy (top 1 per cent) rainfall is expected over isolated parts of central Sudan, and heavy to very heavy (top 5-10 per cent) rainfall is expected over parts of central Sudan.

The Nile River water level started to increase during the last week of July, but it largely remains below the alert level. The Atbara River water level, some 300 km northeast of Khartoum, exceeded the alert level on 6 August due to heavy rain in eastern Sudan and the north-western part of Ethiopia. Compared to the same period last year, the water levels along the five major stations remain below the alert level. Humanitarian organizations are carrying out rapid assessments in affected and accessible areas.

The rainy season in Sudan usually starts in June and lasts up to September, with the peak of rains and flooding observed between August and September.

For more information on floods and updated figures of people affected and areas, please see the 2022 Floods Dashboard.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.