
A man passes on the side of a flooded road in the town of Alkadro, about (20 km) north of the capital Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020. AP
The Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources reassured citizens on Saturday about the potential impact of the Nile flood, after it said last month that the flood is expected to be higher than average this year, but noted that it is still too early to determine the extent of the flooding.
In Sudan, the intense flooding has killed over 100 people and damaged tens of thousands of houses over the past days.
Ministry spokesman Mohamed Al-Sebaie told Al-Hekaya program on MBC Masr that the excess water will be collected in the Lake Nasser reservoir in Upper Egypt’s Aswan, and that it will be utilised to meet the country’s water needs, especially in times of drought.
The extent of the flooding, which has started in Egypt since August, can only be determined in late September, he added.
The annual Nile flood, which takes place in August, September and October, is caused by heavy rain in the Ethiopian highlands.
In an August meeting of the committee for regulating the flow of the Nile, Minister of Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Aty ordered officials to continue removing illegal structures along waterways, especially those on the Nile.
He warned that such encroachments limit the ability of water networks to contain excess water in times of emergency and flooding.
Ministry spokesman Al-Sebaie said that since the launch of the national campaign to save the Nile River in 2015, over 276,000 illegal structures along waterways, including the river, have been demolished. He added that this number includes more than 57,000 illegal structures on the Nile.
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