Rains bring more destruction to Darfur and Sudan’s capital

Six people are missing and dozens of homes have collapsed after floods in the area of Birkat Seira on the border between Central and North Darfur on Saturday. In Omdurman, the sister-city of Khartoum, downpours led to the destruction of hundreds of houses on Saturday. The reopening of schools in Khartoum state, closed after the torrential rains on 30 July, has been postponed for a week. A listener told Radio Dabanga from Birkat Seira, North Darfur, that in addition to the six missing people, 160 sheep drowned. Dozens of homes and water pumps were destroyed. Large tracts of cultivated land were flooded. Pastures with cattle in the villages of Wiringa and Dankoj, in Zalingei locality and Dabanga village in Nierteti locality in Central Darfur were flooded too.” A citizen in Nierteti town told Radio Dabanga that the heavy rains detroyed 90 homes in the villages of Wiringa, Dankoj, and Dabanga, and 20 in the neighbouring villages. In Omdurman, more than 1,000 acres of cultivated land were flooded by heavy rainfall on Saturday, a resident of El Salha district in the south-eastern part of Omdurman reported to Radio Dabanga. “In El Salha, Ombadda, and El Sawrat districts, hundreds of houses collapsed. Most of them were already damaged by the torrents and floods of 30 July.” He demanded from the Khartoum state authorities to urgently provide tarpaulins and tents for the affected families “who have been living in the open since 30 July, and the new homeless since yesterday”. File photo: Floods in Khartoum, 30 July 2014 (Radio Dabanga correspondent) Related:Torrents destroy 460 homes in West Darfur (10 August 2014) Floods kill four in Sudan’s South Kordofan (8 August 2014) Farms, vehicles swept-away by floods in Central Darfur (7 August 2014) Dozens dead in heavy flooding across Sudan (6 August 2014)