Sudan dam disaster imperils major port city amid civil war

(LONDON) — A dam collapse in Sudan has left at least 30 people dead and at least 20 villages destroyed, the United Nations has said, following heavy rains in a region already devastated by civil war.

The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs posted a statement to its website on Monday evening noting that the Arbaat Dam — some 24 miles northwest of the city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast — “suffered extensive damage due to heavy rains” on Saturday.

“Preliminary reports indicate the breach caused extensive damage in 20 villages downstream from the dam,” the statement read. “Our humanitarian partners and local authorities are assessing the affected areas and will have additional clarity on the extent of the damage in the coming days.”

The U.N. cited a government delegation as reporting 70 villages around the dam were affected by the flood, with 20 destroyed. Of the 65,000 people living to the west of the facility, the homes of around 50,000 have either been destroyed or damaged, the U.N. situation report said.

“The affected people are in urgent need of water, food, and shelter assistance,” it added. 

The real death toll is “likely much higher” than the current 30 people, the statement read, with reports indicating that “scores of people” are missing.

The Arbaat Dam is the primary source of freshwater for Port Sudan and its 483,000 residents. 

“The reported damage is expected to have a substantial impact on water supplies to Port Sudan, worsening the humanitarian situation,” the U.N. said.

The port city has served as a haven for government troops — the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) — since 2023, when fighting erupted between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and left the capital of Khartoum contested.

Port Sudan has also been a center for internally displaced people fleeing the fighting between the SAF and RSF.

“I extend my condolences to those that have lost loved ones or been displaced due to the recent collapse of Aarbat Dam,” U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello posed on X.

“With the fragility of so much vital civilian infrastructure, we reiterate calls on the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces to provide protections for the restoration of security, health care, and infrastructure,” he added.