Floods Claim Lives In Red Sea State

21 July 2010 - (Port Sudan) – More than thirty people died and hundreds displaced as floods engulfed parts of Red Sea state since the beginning of the week.

Many people were also left homeless.

According to the secretary general of the Beja Congress Party, Abdulla Musa Abdulla, the most affected area is the locality of south Tokar.

He spoke to Sudan Radio Service from Port Sudan on Wednesday.

[Abdulla Musa Abdulla]: “The floods came from highlands in the border areas between Sudan and Eritrea, and affected the area of south Tokar, starting from the area of Marafit up to the border with Eritrea. These floods are not the normal seasonal floods from Baraka River. These ones are coming from mountainous highlands to the affected areas destroying houses and causing the death of more than thirty-nine people and also many livestock perished. The area is now flooded with water and there is an attempt to rescue the population in the area.”

Musa said that people in the affected area needed humanitarian assistance.

[Abdulla Musa Abdulla]: “There were talks that there will be assistance or the government will make a move, but up to this moment there is no serious action in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the population.”

Abdulla Musa Abdulla was talking to Sudan Radio Service from Port Sudan.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this year's heavy downpours follow a poor rainy season in 2009, which may lead to a severe drought later in the year.