UAE aid reaches Sudanese families hit by floods

Assistance was delivered to more than 7,000 villagers in remote areas

The Emirates Red Crescent has distributed food packages and material for shelters to more than 7,000 villagers in the Dongola district of Sudan. Wam

Emirates Red Crescent workers have taken the aid to remote villages in the country hit by flooding. Wam

A family in Sudan receives an aid package. Wam

Sudan's National Council for Civil Defence says the flooding and heavy rain destroyed more than 42,300 homes and partially damaged about 64,300. AP

Teams from the UAE's Emirates Red Crescent have given food baskets and materials for shelter to families affected by torrential rains and floods in remote areas of Sudan.

More than 7,000 villagers in Dongla district, in the north, which is about 448 kilometres north-west of Khartoum, received help.

Last month, the UAE opened an air bridge to transport large quantities of aid.

Families in Sudan thanked the UAE's leaders and the government. They said they hope the supplies would help them to deal with the worst humanitarian catastrophe yet that has resulted in huge losses, news agency Wam said.

Al Baghir Ahmed Ali, the acting governor of Northern State, said that the aid and relief efforts will support families who face extremely difficult conditions.

''The delivery of food and shelter packets in these difficult circumstances demonstrates the generosity of the UAE and its kind people,” he said.

The heavy rain and floods across large parts of Sudan since last month have killed 125 people, authorities said on Monday.

They said 119 people were injured. The death toll marks a rise of 13 over last week’s tally.

The National Council for Civil Defence in Sudan said on Monday that the flooding and rainfall destroyed 42,387 homes and partially damaged another 64,286.

Homes in the Al Jazeera, Sudan’s breadbasket south of Khartoum, suffered the worst damage of any single region, it said.

Authorities have not announced the financial cost of the damage caused by the flooding, but they have spoken of the devastation of the agricultural season, with tens of thousands of hectares of land now under water.

But they said water had begun to recede in some areas, allowing farmers to plant crop seeds in the hope that they might salvage part of the season.