Entire villages have been destroyed and more than 100 people have already been killed in floods that started early June 2016.

Authorities and humanitarian agencies are trying to salvage the desperate situation created by the nationwide floods that have so far killed over 100 people, destroyed 13,000 houses and impacted an estimated 122,000 people in Sudan.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said  the most affected States  in the floods that started since early June 2016  are Kassala, Sennar, South Kordofan, West Kordofan and North Darfur, Al Jazeera reported. Reports say thousands of people in the impoverished eastern state of Kasala bordering Eritrea fled their homes after the river Gash burst its banks, flooding entire villages inhabited by farmers. Al Jazeera further  reported that many people were sheltering in makeshift grass huts on hilltops, after floodwaters also cut off the main highway between east Sudan and the capital, Khartoum.

Sudan’s Red Crescent Society is cited to have reported on Sunday, August 14, 2016 that 25 people died in eastern Sudan’s Kassala, and around 8,000 houses have been destroyed since heavy rains lashed the state two weeks ago. Faced with a shortage  of supplies and little food or drinking water, news agencies reported that many people who fled to makeshift huts on hilltops have resorted to drinking muddy water, which could lead to water-borne illnesses.

« We had no time. We simply fled, taking our children when our village was flooded in the night two weeks ago, » Taha Mahmoud, chief of Makli village in Kassala, reportedly told news agencies. He added that, « We lost all our food, belongings and livestock. We’re living in miserable conditions in makeshift huts that won’t withstand heavy rains. We are eating just one meal a day. Children are falling sick, and doctors are miles away. »