Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan on floods response

Khartoum: The United Nations and humanitarian partners have dispatched relief supplies for over 40,000 flood-affected people and thousands more will receive humanitarian assistance in the coming days and weeks, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan a.i. Eddie Rowe said.

“Humanitarian organizations have dispatched relief supplies for about 40,000 people who have been affected by heavy rains and floods. At least 9,700 flood-affected people in the larger Kordofan area, East Darfur, Central Darfur, and South Darfur states have already received shelter supplies,” the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. said. “We will scale up the assistance as soon as some of the areas that have been cut off are accessible again and we can deliver the supplies for affected states, including Aj Jazirah and others.”

Health sector partners have provided medicines and medical supplies for about 10,000 patients with water and vector-borne diseases that usually surge with the onset of the rainy season and floods.

More than 19,000 affected people have received chlorine for water treatment, as well as sanitation and hygiene supplies in South Darfur and White Nile states. Water, sanitation and hygiene sector (WASH) partners are rehabilitating water pumps, rehabilitation water yards, and providing water treatment chemicals and WASH non-food items (NFIs) for flood-affected families in West Darfur, White Nile, South Darfur, Gedaref, and East Darfur.

As of 22 August, the estimated number of flood-affected people is more than 146,200, according to the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), humanitarian organizations on the ground, and local authorities. Torrential rains and floods destroyed at least 9,600 houses and damaged another 22,000 in 14 states. The government authorities reported that 79 people died and 30 people were injured since the beginning of the rainy season.

The most affected states are Central Darfur (41,670 people), South Darfur (28,730), River Nile (15,720), West Darfur (15,500), White Nile (13,920), West Kordofan (5,860), South Kordofan (5,770), and others.

In addition, the floods have reportedly affected at least 238 health facilities, 1,560 water sources and over 1,500 latrines were damaged or washed away. People have lost over 330 head of livestock and over 5,200 feddans (18.9 km2) of agricultural land were affected by floods.

In 2022, more than 460,000 people could be affected by the floods, according to the 2022 Sudan Emergency Response Plan (ERP). In 2021, a year of depressed rains, about 314,500 people were affected across Sudan, while between 2017 and 2021 floods on average affected 388,600 people annually.

As of 22 August, donors provided about $607.8 million for the 2022 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), which is about 31 percent of the required amount.

“We are grateful to the donors for their support to alleviate the suffering and provide life-saving assistance to millions of people in need in Sudan. We are calling upon our generous donors to expedite HRP 2022 funding as the needs are growing and we still have time to respond,” the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. said.

Background on HRP:

During January-June 2022, despite low funding and other challenges, HRP partners reached 7.1 million people in need in Sudan with some form of humanitarian assistance. About 5.2 million people received food and livelihood assistance, close to 2 million people were provided with access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, almost 1.9 million people were reached with mine action activities, and about 0.9 million people were covered with healthcare services.

Moreover, close to 850,000 children were provided with nutrition services and nutritional supplements, 775,000 vulnerable people were reached with protection activities and 550,000 refugees received various forms of assistance, protection and support.

For further information, please contact:

OCHA Sudan

Sofie Karlsson, Head of Communications: +249 912 174456 | WhatsApp: +249 912 174456 |

karlsson2@un.org