At least 60 people have been declared dead after a dam collapsed in Sudan, Monday reports said.
According to the Associated Press, the dam collapsed as early as Saturday night, but communications difficulties made information difficult to come by. Radio Dabanga reported that the area suffers from a widespread communication outage after rainfall damaged a major cable.
The Arbaat dam, which has a capacity of 25 million cubic meters, collapsed due to heavy rainfall. The dam, located 25 miles (40km) north of Port Sudan, provides most of the drinking water for the port city, which is also home to the government and military bases.
Search operations are still ongoing, and the death toll may climb as the operations proceed. According to the local Merdameek, the Sudanese Air Force is working to rescue people who sought refuge in the mountains and are now trapped.
Water Authority Director Omar Issa Tahir told Akhbar that the floods had "wiped out the entire area."
The Guardian, quoting the United Nations, said that at least 20 villages had been washed away, and at least 50,000 homes had been affected.