A Sudanese man walks through a flooded area on August 18, 2022 in the eastern state of Kassala, one of the badly affected regions in Sudan due to torrential rains this week. (Photo by Hussein ERY / AFP)

Khartoum, August 19 (RHC)-- Flooding in Sudan has killed scores of people and destroyed an estimated 14,500 homes as seasonal rains pound the country, causing rivers to flood and destroying property.

The death toll since the rainy season began in May now stands at 77, affirmed the spokesman for Sudan’s National Council for Civil Defence, Brigadier General Abdul-Jalil Abdul-Rahim.

Provinces most affected by the seasonal rains include North Kordofan, Gezira, South Kordofan, South Darfur and River Nile, the spokesman said.   Heavy rains usually fall in Sudan between May and October, and the country faces severe flooding every year that wrecks property, infrastructure and crops.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported earlier this week that, according to the government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission, humanitarian organisations, and local authorities, more than 136,000 people have been affected by the floods.

The UN agency said it expected the number of those affected by flooding to increase as assessments were still under way and heavy rains had been forecast. The UN also said the number of people and localities affected by the seasonal rains as of August 14 had “doubled” compared with the same period last year.

About 314,500 people were affected across Sudan during the entire rainy season in 2021, according to the UN.  During last year’s rainy season, flooding and heavy downpours killed more than 80 people and swamped tens of thousands of houses across the country.

In 2020, authorities declared Sudan a natural disaster area and imposed a three-month state of emergency across the country after the deluge killed around 100 people and inundated more than 100,000 houses.