Aid struggles to reach survivors after Sudan dam collapse

YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, ARMENPRESS. Emergency responders were scrambling on Tuesday to find out how many people remain missing after waters burst through a dam in eastern Sudan, resulting in the worst in a series of floods, Reuters reports.

The collapse of the Arbaat Dam on Sunday killed 30 people and likely dozens more, in the latest in a series of inundations around the country as this year's rainy season hits heavier, and in places earlier, than in past years, according to Reuters.

War-shattered Sudan is already suffering from the world's largest hunger and displacement crises, and the flooding has impeded aid delivery already disrupted by the conflict between the army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Some 118,000 people have been displaced nationwide and more than 300,000 affected across the country, as the floods destroy homes and spread diseases including cholera.

In the Darfur region, the flooding has blocked food deliveries, including the first shipment of supplies from the World Food Programme to famine-threatened Kreinik since the re-opening of the Adre border crossing to humanitarians.

The bridge leading to the town, where thousands of displaced people are sheltering with little food, was destroyed in the rains, said one local volunteer.

WFP on Sunday said that the first shipments since mid-July had made it through the al-Tina border crossing into North Darfur, having been blocked by flooding there.

In Tokar, also in Red Sea state, at least 500 households were displaced as of Sunday, as people wade through rivers in between damaged homes.