Sudan: Floods prompt evacuation
2007-07-24 19:03
Khartoum - Sudan has advised people residing along flood paths to relocate to safer areas as heavy rains that have already killed 55 people and destroyed 25 000 homes continue to batter much of the country.
"We are also urging those living along river banks and in
areas previously affected by floods to leave immediately,"
Hamadallah Adam Ali, the head of the civil defence authority,
said on Tuesday.
Sudan is experiencing its worst floods in living memory. The
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies said the floods could affect about 2.4 million people across 16 of Sudan's 26 states.
Sudanese Interior Minister Zubeir Bashir Taha warned the
situation was almost critical, predicting heavier rains in the
coming days or weeks.
'It will be a certain crisis'
"The levels are now fluctuating between alert and critical.
We haven't as yet exceeded the critical level. We have exceeded
the alert level," the minister told Reuters earlier this week.
Taha said there is no immediate shortage of tents or food and 25 000 families have been provided shelter so far.
"We can go up to about 100 000. If we go above 100 000 families in need of shelter it will be a certain crisis," he said.
Most of the 55 dead and 125 injured have been in central,
eastern and south-eastern Sudan, according to Ali.
"Nearly 25 000 homes have been completely destroyed and
20 000 homes partially affected," he said, adding that 130
government buildings, including schools, had collapsed.
Ali said the rains had also affected parts of south Sudan.
Major roads to some parts of the country and bridges have
either been washed away or disabled.
Police helicopters continue to drop supplies to people stranded in places inaccessible by road, including villages in
northern Sudan, which was among the worst hit regions during last year's flooding.
Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom