PORT SUDAN: Torrential flooding battered Sudan’s southeast Tuesday, bringing entire villages underwater and causing homes to collapse, witnesses told AFP, in the first devastating weather event of Sudan’s rainy season.
In Aroma, a town some 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the major city of Kassala, residents were “shocked this morning by the sudden water” after the collapse of a dirt barrier that functioned as a makeshift dam, local resident Ibrahim Issa told AFP over the phone.
The flooding, which usually occurs in the area later in the summer, follows increased rainfall in neighboring Eritrea, feeding the Gash River.
Also known as the Mareb River, the waterway flows out of Eritrea and annually inundates the flat delta in eastern Sudan, just north of the Kassala state capital.
“Now everything in my house is completely underwater, I only managed to get my children out,” Issa said.
By early afternoon, the waters had submerged large parts of Aroma as well as three nearby villages, according to a humanitarian worker in the area.
“The water is still coming,” the worker told AFP, requesting anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Photos shared on social media showed residents wading through thigh-level brown water.
AFP could not immediately verify the scale of the damage wrought by the flooding.
Each year, torrential rains and river flooding — which peak in August — destroy homes, wreck infrastructure and claim lives, both directly and indirectly through water-borne diseases.
The damage is expected to be much worse this year, after nearly 15 months of war that have decimated the country’s already fragile infrastructure and pushed millions of displaced people into flood zones.
The World Meteorological Organization has predicted “above-normal rainfall” over most of the Greater Horn of Africa region this summer, which could spell disaster for Sudan’s already flood-prone areas.
East African bloc IGAD’s climate predictions chief, Guleid Artan, has warned of exceptionally high risk of flooding in both Sudan and South Sudan.
Aid groups have repeatedly warned that humanitarian access, already hampered by both rival forces, will be made nearly impossible as the waters isolate remote areas.
Sudan is already facing what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shows no signs of abating.
A record 10.5 million people are currently displaced across the country, which has for months teetered on the brink of all-out famine.
Floods tear through delta in war-torn Sudan’s southeast
https://arab.news/zdqzr
Floods tear through delta in war-torn Sudan’s southeast
- Residents were “shocked this morning by the sudden water” after the collapse of a dirt barrier that functioned as a makeshift dam
- The flooding, which usually occurs in the area later in the summer, follows increased rainfall in neighboring Eritrea, feeding the Gash River
Syria’s growth accelerates as sanctions ease, refugees return
- Economy grows much faster than World Bank’s 1% estimate, fueling plans for currency’s relaunch
NEW YORK: Syria’s economy is growing much faster than the World Bank’s 1 percent estimate for 2025 as refugees flow back after the end of a 14-year civil war, fueling plans for the relaunch of the country’s currency and efforts to build a new Middle East financial hub, central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh has said.
Speaking via video link at a conference in New York, Husrieh also said he welcomed a deal with Visa to establish digital payment systems and added that the country is working with the International Monetary Fund to develop methods to accurately measure economic data to reflect the resurgence.
The Syrian central bank chief, who is helping guide the war-torn country’s reintegration into the global economy after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime about a year ago, described the repeal of many US sanctions against Syria as “a miracle.”
The US Treasury on Nov. 10 announced a 180-day extension of the suspension of the so-called Caesar sanctions against Syria; lifting them entirely requires approval by the US Congress.
Husrieh said that based on discussions with US lawmakers, he expects the sanctions to be repealed by the end of 2025, ending “the last episode of the sanctions.”
“Once this happens, this will give comfort to our potential correspondent banks about dealing with Syria,” he said.
Husrieh also said that Syria was working to revamp regulations aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which he said would provide further assurances to international lenders.
Syria’s central bank has recently organized workshops with banks from the US, Turkiye, Jordan and Australia to discuss due diligence in reviewing transactions, he added.
Husrieh said that Syria is preparing to launch a new currency in eight note denominations and confirmed plans to remove two zeroes from them in a bid to restore confidence in the battered pound.
“The new currency will be a signal and symbol for this financial liberation,” Husrieh said. “We are glad that we are working with Visa and Mastercard,” Husrieh said.
