Heavy rains on Sunday caused floods that overwhelmed the Arbaat Dam, just 40 kilometers north of Port Sudan, the country’s de facto capital and home to government, diplomats, aid groups and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

“The area is unrecognizable. The electricity and water lines are destroyed,” said Omar Eissa Haroun, head of the Red Sea State Water Authority, in a WhatsApp message to employees.

A first responder said between 150 and 200 people were missing.

On the road to Arbaat on Monday, a Reuters reporter saw people burying a man and covering his grave with driftwood to prevent it from being washed away by mudslides.

The United Nations said, citing local authorities, that the homes of around 50,000 people were affected by the floods. However, the number of victims only refers to the area west of the dam, as the area east of it is inaccessible.

The dam was the main source of water for Port Sudan, the country’s main Red Sea port and airport, from where most of the country’s urgently needed aid supplies are delivered.

“The city is threatened by drought in the coming days,” said a statement from the Sudanese Environmental Association.

Crumbling infrastructure

Officials said the dam began to crumble and mud began to form because of heavy rain for several days and the rains began much earlier than usual.

Sudan’s dams, roads and bridges were already in poor condition before the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Forces began in April 2023.

Since then, both sides have invested most of their resources in the conflict and severely neglected infrastructure.

Some people fled their flooded homes and fled to the mountains, where they are now stranded, the Health Ministry said.

On Monday, the government’s rainy season task force said 132 people had died in floods across the country, compared with 68 two weeks ago. At least 118,000 people have been left homeless by the rains this year, according to UN agencies.

The conflict in Sudan began when rivalry between the army and the RSF, who had previously shared power following a coup, escalated into open war.

Both sides sought to protect their power and broad economic interests while the international community pushed forward plans for a transition to civilian rule.

Despite overlapping ceasefire efforts, including Saudi-US-led talks in Jeddah, fighting has not abated and half of the country’s 50 million people do not have enough to eat.

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