SUDAN – At least 30 people have been killed following the collapse of a dam in Sudan’s northwest Red Sea State, according to the United Nations’s emergency relief agency. Hundreds more are believed missing, Reuters reported.

Flash flooding decimated 20 villages and damaged a further 50 after the Arba’at Dam collapsed Sunday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. It estimated 50,000 people had been “severely affected” by the disaster. In the villages of Khor-Baraka and Tukar, residents were reportedly forced to flee for safety, OCHA also said, citing local officials. It added that the final death toll could rise significantly.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) footage of the aftermath shows industrial trucks buried in mud and debris, some laden with crates and personal belongings. Other vehicles are almost unrecognizable on the silty riverbank. One resident who lived near the dam, Moussa Mohamad Moussa, described in another video from AFP how “the dam broke and… the water swept away around 40 people.”

“In the area where I’m from, the Tabub area… they told me that all the houses and everything was swept away,” he said. Another resident, Ali Issa, was pictured saying he had helped to rescue families, elderly people, and children who were trapped in their cars when the floodwaters rose. “We came to the area to check out the situation but we couldn’t reach the Arba’at Dam because there was so much water,” he said.

Initial reports indicated torrential rains had caused the dam to breach, OCHA said, adding this had resulted in the reservoir behind it “being fully drained.” (CNN)…[+]