Pic:� Jeremy Hartley/Panos Pictures
During
the 1998 floods, poorer residents of Khartoum suffered the most. Mud
buildings collapsed on the impact of heavy raindrops, and many were
left without fresh water, food and shelter.
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Floods
in Khartoum
People in Khartoum, Sudan's capital city, have learned to adjust to the
seasonal changes in the flow of the Nile as it lies at the
confluence of two main tributaries, the Blue and White Nile. People
are used to the higher river levels during August and September when rainfall
in the Ethiopian Highlands in the Blue Nile's upper course during June
and July reaches areas downstream. But in September 1998, the city suffered
its worst flooding in fifty years. Torrential rain caused the Nile to
rise 16 metres and burst its banks. Flooded sewage systems and stagnant
water increased the risk of diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea, and
transport links in and out of the city were at a standstill.
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