Floods kill nine people in Sudan

Flash floods have killed nine people in Sudan, a civil defence official told AFP on Wednesday, after heavy seasonal rains triggered flooding in the Nile Valley.

The official said the deaths occurred when a torrential downpour struck the northern city of al-Dammer, the capital of River Nile State, on Tuesday, with the floodwaters surrounding five neighbourhoods and impeding access.

The rains also submerged parts of the main road between Atbara in northeastern Sudan and the capital Khartoum, about 300 kilometres to the south, cutting off traffic.

Sudan's rainy season reaches its height in August, typically affecting the south and southeast of the country. But in recent years, rainfall has increasingly reached into the desert regions to the north, and as far as the border with Egypt.

Hundreds of homes destroyed

In the eastern state of Gedaref, authorities also reported roughly 600 homes were damaged in the rains and more than 8,500 acres of farmland left underwater.

Emergency officials in the state warned villages had been left isolated by the floods with key roads severed, particularly in the towns of Gallabat and Qala al-Nahl.