During a month of non-stop pouring rains, Sudan is experiencing record-breaking floods that have killed at least 100 people, injured 46, and displaced over 110,000. The situation is escalating a pre-existing economic and humanitarian crisis provoked by COVID-19, one that many experts fear the country will not be able to recover from.

Sudan is no stranger to floods, with its rainy season lasting from June to October. However, the natural disasters have worsened over the past few years due to climate change, affecting around 650,000 people in this year alone according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Hundreds of thousands have lost everything they owned.

The OCHA has warned that Sudan is in the middle of an acute humanitarian crisis and that the necessary supplies to respond are running out. Since many roads have been destroyed as a result of the flooding, multiple agencies are unable to deliver aid to communities in desperate need. Aside from a lack of external aid, access to drinkable water has also been negatively impacted, with approximately 2,000 sources having been broken or contaminated. According to a Sudan-based journalist, water has mixed with sewage and is now increasing the vulnerability of the healthcare system.

The country’s capital, Khartoum, has arguably been the hardest hit, seeing as the Nile burst its banks and the Blue and White Nile Rivers meet in the city. States that the Blue Nile and River Nile also cross have had similar levels of devastation, including the Gezira, Gadarif, West Kordofan, and South Darfur regions. 16 out of Sudan’s 18 states are dealing with some sort of flood damage. Experts are saying that these levels are so high because of climate change and deforestation in the area.

“This year we’ve seen an increase in the amount of rainfall because of climate change, meaning that the Nile has flooded more than before. In addition, a lot of trees have been cut down to make place for residential areas near the Nile, affecting the valleys where the water would flow through.”

Marwa Taha, climate change expert

Earlier in the month, Sudan declared a national emergency for three months and designated the country as a natural disaster zone. Some tents have been put up in order to accommodate families who have been displaced, however many people had no other option but to sleep in the open or on whatever dry land they could find. Ezz Aldin Hussein, a Sudanese engineer whose home was damaged in the flood, says that even though the rain season is known to come every year, the government never seems to seriously prepare for it.

Hussein says that successive governments are lacking efforts to make basic preparations to help people affected, on top of failing to take preventive measures that would minimize flood damage. Police and civil defense authorities are usually the first ones to be called in an emergency, but people in Sudan are relying on neighbors and charities for help. The government’s consistent failure to help is only contributing to the perception that the new military-dominated transitional “technocratic” government is not very different from the regime of Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in a military coup in 2019 after thirty years in power.

Prior to the floods, the government’s handling of the pandemic was widely criticized. Although its solutions regarding international arrivals were technically responsible, as was the nationwide lockdown imposed in April, there have been numerous reports of police beating up and arresting doctors as they were heading to work, despite carrying travel permits. These arrests and beatings included the head of Sudan’s largest maternity hospital.

The situation is expected to deteriorate in coming days. The total number of deaths in the country due to floods rose to 114 since the beginning of June, while 83,516 homes have been damaged (32,964 of which were entirely destroyed), 43,425 acres of farmland were damaged, and 5,482 heads of livestock died.

Coming back to climate change, Khartoum-based environmental activist Nisreen Elsaim believes that global warming has dramatically intensified the level of damage these floods have done, saying that the government and those of surrounding countries “should take climate change very seriously and include it in their annual planning and strategies.” She also says that Sudan is exhausted from previous challenges and has no infrastructure to fight the natural disaster; she fears that the coming months aren’t going to be much better than the current situation.

“After a flood, we normally have outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, malaria and other water-borne diseases. Scorpions and snakes have also escaped from the floodwater by heading for villages on higher ground, resulting in an increase in stings and bites. These sicknesses will remain even after the rain season is over.”

Nisreen Elsaim

Although it is a dire situation, it is not completely hopeless. The UN has coordinated aid efforts across the country and the international community is starting to speak up about the disaster. By donating, volunteering, spreading awareness on climate change, and educating oneself on Sudan, it becomes possible to help them through the catastrophe.

---

Sources: