Sudan: Floods damage thousands of homes, hundreds destroyed

Heavy flooding caused by torrential rains has left many streets in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, deep in water and damaged thousands of homes across the country, AFP reported Sunday. 

A number of houses had "collapsed" in Atbara, a city in the northeast, due to the heavy rains, the official news agency SUNA reported.

Torrential rains usually fall in the east African country from June to October, causing severe flooding every year, wrecking properties, infrastructure, and crops.

The UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said on Thursday that some 12,000 people in eight out of the country's 18 states had been affected.

"Over 800 homes have reportedly been destroyed and over 4,400 homes damaged," the UN said.

Last year, heavy rains forced Sudan to declare a three-month state of emergency, after flooding affected at least 650,000 people, with more than 110,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

In 2020, flood water swelled the Blue Nile, which joins the White Nile in Khartoum, to its highest level since records began over a century ago.