Floods across Darfur, Sudan cause devastation, price hikes
Torrential rains and floods have cut-off roads across Sudan, resulting in a dire rise in the prices of food and consumer goods in Darfur and elsewhere in the economically challenged country.
Floods in Makali village, Aroma locality, Kassala state (social media)
Torrential rains and floods have cut-off roads across Sudan, resulting in a dire rise in the prices of food and consumer goods in Darfur and elsewhere in the economically challenged country.
Heavy flooding damage has also been reported from Kassala, El Gezira, and Red Sea states where homes, business, and infrastructure have been devastated.
People expect the crisis will intensify and worsen in the coming days, especially in villages and rural areas due to logistical challenges because of cut-off roads and flooded valleys and creeks.
On Friday morning, six people drowned in flash floods in North and Central Darfur. The western part of rural Sennar in eastern Sudan was flooded as well. Khartoum was also hit by heavy rainfall. Power outages were reported in many neighbourhoods. In the suburbs, dozens of houses built with mud bricks collapsed.
Callers from Darfur told this station that the price of a 50 kg sack of sugar before and during the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice, Eid El Adha, has amounted to SDG 2,200 ($48*), a piece of soap SDG 25, a pound of tea SDG 120, a kilogram of beef meat SDG 300 and a kilo of goat or lamb SDG 350.
Khartoum witnessed the first and second days of Eid El Adha, a bread and fuel crisis, where people stood in long lines in front of bakeries and fuel stations.
On Monday, the second day of Eid El Adha, dozens of people protested at El Hawa street in Omdurman, one of the largest streets for the sale of sacrificial sheep, against livestock traders because of the high prices of sheep. Prices reached SDG 23,000 ($510) for a sheep.
The protesters shouted at the traders: “you are greedy, your sheep will not be sold, go away!”
Heavy rainfall in Greater Khartoum on Saturday led to the death of three people, including a child. At least 436 houses collapsed, leaving hundreds of families homeless.
As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, two young women (20 and 22) died in El Gezira state after heavy rains and flash floods devastated several villages.
* As effective foreign exchange rates can vary in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)
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