Khartoum was hit by heavy rains on Friday (31 July) and Saturday (01 August 2020). Floods covered large parts of East Nile locality in Khartoum North. A number of houses collapsed.
The newly appointed civilian wali (governor) of Khartoum, Ayman Khalid, paid an inspection visit on Saturday to the affected areas in East Nile.
He was accompanied by El Tayeb El Sheikh, Secretary General of Khartoum state government, the director of the state Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and the director of East Nile locality.
The wali gave directives for emergency water drainage and the evacuation of the people from houses besieged by the floods. Food items were distributed to the affected families in the locality.
In an emergency meeting, the concerned officials assessed the situation in the flood-affected areas in the locality. They decided to form a “high committee”, to be headed by the governor, that will “operate round-the-clock”, in addition to an operating committee.
The operating committee immediately begun preparing lists of fully and partially-collapsed homes. They will as well supervise the evacuation of the affected families to safe places, and provide them with drinking water, food, tents and tarpaulins.
The officials appealed to civil society organisations to also intervene and support the affected people.
The operation room will deal with any problems caused by rains and floods in the Sudanese capital during the current rainy season.
Meteorologists expect the current heavy rainfall to continue until 05 August 2020. The rainy season in Sudan lasts from May/June until October/November.
This article was originally published on Radio Dabanga on 02 August 2020 and is re-published here with permission.
