(Bloomberg) -- At least 60 people died after a dam collapsed amid torrential rains in eastern Sudan, local media reported, the latest tragedy in the North African nation that’s being pushed into famine by a more than yearlong civil war.
Many others are missing after the foundering of the Arbaat Dam, site of a reservoir that’s a major source of fresh water for the nearby Red Sea city of Port Sudan, according to the Altaghyeer news website. The flooding has destroyed homes, swept away vehicles and forced citizens to flee to higher ground, it said, citing eyewitnesses.
Heavy rains and flooding in Sudan this summer had already affected an estimated 317,000 people and claimed at least 39 lives, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian office. It threatens to worsen a recent outbreak of cholera in the country, where a conflict between the army and a rival militia erupted in April 2023.
--With assistance from Salma El Wardany.
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