Africa
Residents carry their belongings out of their homes after severe flooding in the Umm Dum area east of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, on Sept. 8.
Mohammed Abu Obaid/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Mohammed Abu Obaid/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The White Nile and Blue Nile rivers are Sudan’s lifeblood. Heavy rains, however, have transformed them into a force for calamity. More than 100 are dead and more than half a million are homeless in the worst flooding in at least a century.
Mohammed Abu Obaid/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A man walks through floodwaters after losing his home in the Umm Dum area on Sept. 8.
Mohammed Abu Obaid/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Mohammed Abu Obaid/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Women displaced from their homes stand outside at a camp in the village of Tamaniyet, north of Khartoum, on Sept. 14.
Mazen Mahdi/AFP/Getty Images
Mazen Mahdi/AFP/Getty Images
An aerial view shows buildings and roads submerged by floodwaters near the Nile River in South Khartoum on Sept. 8.
El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters
El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters
Khartoum is the worst-hit area, inundated by waters from both Nile tributaries. Tuti Island, near the rivers’ confluence, was almost totally submerged. Humanitarian aid has been slow to arrive, and many have been sheltering in schools and government offices.
El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters
El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters
Ground crew teams at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Sakhir, south of the Bahraini capital of Manama, load humanitarian aid on a plane headed for Khartoum on Sept. 13.
Mazen Mahdi/AFP/Getty Images
Mazen Mahdi/AFP/Getty Images
The rainy season has been particularly severe in Ethiopia’s highlands, where the Blue Nile originates. A new dam built on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia probably diminished what could have been even more devastating flooding.
Mazen Mahdi/AFP/Getty Images
Boys wade through floodwaters in Omdurman, Sudan, on Aug. 26.
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
Omdurman on Aug. 26.
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
The Sudanese government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission says rains have only intensified over the past week and can be expected for weeks to come. It declared a three-month state of emergency earlier in September.
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
Omdurman on Aug. 26.
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
A man passes by a flooded road in Shaqilab, about 15 miles southwest of Khartoum, on Aug. 31.
Marwan Ali/AP
Marwan Ali/AP
The Nile gave rise to some of the ancient world’s greatest civilizations, including the Kingdom of Kush, in what is now Sudan. This year’s floodwaters have threatened the ruins of Meroe, the seat of that pyramid-building empire, which flourished alongside pharaonic Egypt more than 2,000 years ago.
Marwan Ali/AP
Marwan Ali/AP
Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters
Workers with the Sudanese antiquities authority line a stone wall with sandbags to mitigate floodwater damage to a structure in the ancient royal city at the archaeological site of Meroe on Sept. 9.
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images