The Blue Nile river has risen and washed over about one kilometre of farmland in the east of Khartoum [Photo: AFP]
Sudanese authorities are warning residents living near the banks of the Nile to take extreme precautions in anticipation of possible flooding caused by heavy rainfall.
Authorities say the water levels of the Blue Nile have exceeded those in 1988 when, after heavy rain, flooding inundated most of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, killing scores of people and damaging property.
Tuesday's warning was made by Ballah Abdul-Rahman, a senior official at the Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity.
Abdul-Rahman said water levels of the Blue Nile, which originates in the Ethiopian highlands, were rapidly rising on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border.
The Blue Nile flows downstream to Khartoum, where it meets the less voluminous White Nile before they continue together into Egypt and later the Mediterranean coast.
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