On August 15, heavy, torrential rains killed 65 people in Sudan and destroyed homes and livestock in a nation already hard hit by drought, rampant poverty, war, and civil uprising. The country’s rainy season continues until October, and the Nile River, which crosses Sudan, is heavily swollen.
The losses inflicted by the rains are devastating. The Interior Minister announced that more than thirty thousand homes were destroyed, and seven hundred cattle killed as a result of flooding. Two thousand gold miners are believed to have been trapped underground. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan reported contaminated water sources. Schools have been damaged and closed in many areas.
Agence France Presse reported that 80,000 people were affected by August 15’s torrential rain in the Sahel Zone, a region that stretches from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Sudan to Eritrea. It is the rainy season in the Sahel, and meteorologists warn of a dangerous September and October ahead.
