Floods displace thousands of families already in refugee camps in Sudan

Severe flooding has forced people displaced by Sudan’s civil war to relocate once again, adding further suffering to the plight of families already exhausted by conflict.

Families who had been living in a school complex in the eastern province of Kassala awoke to find floodwaters had crept up while they slept.

T-shirts and trousers covered in mud were strewn on the floor inside their tents.

Their belongings and vehicles were submerged, according to Marwa Musa Mohammed, one of the women who was displaced.

UNHCR provided emergency tents and relocated the families, describing the needs, including access to water, hygiene and sanitation as “huge.”

It said on Friday that at least 200 families had been relocated so far.

More than 11,000 people including refugees and local communities in eastern Kassala state have been impacted by the floods and heavy rains in the past two weeks according to UNHCR.

Forecasts predict more storms in the coming days.

Much of the country has descended into a humanitarian crisis since fighting began over a year ago between the military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

Bichenge Malaika Balikwisha, head of the Kassala sub-office at UNHCR, described the latest flooding as a “crisis over a crisis.”

More than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes both within the country and across its borders according to UNHCR, some several times.

Additional sources • AP