Sudan; Flood surge in Sudan bursts dam, destroying villages and killing dozens
Surging waters have burst through a dam in eastern Sudan, wiping out at least 20 villages and leaving at least 30 people dead but probably many more, the UN has said, devastating a region already reeling from months of civil war. Torrential rains caused floods that on Sunday overwhelmed the Arbaat dam, which is 25 miles (40km) north of Port Sudan, the de facto national capital and base for the government, diplomats, aid agencies and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. “The area is unrecognisable,” Omar Eissa Haroun, head of the water authority for Red Sea state, said in a WhatsApp message to staff. “The electricity and water pipes are destroyed.” One first responder said that between 150 and 200 people were missing. He said he had seen the bodies of goldminers and pieces of their equipment wrecked in the deluge, and likened the disaster to the devastation in the eastern Libyan city of Derna in September last year when storm waters burst dams, swept away buildings and killed thousands. Follow link for full story...