At least 30 people have been killed after a dam collapsed in Sudan, with the homes of 50,000 residents destroyed, the UN has said.

People are trapped in vehicles in the floodwater, which has hit 20 villages, one local told Al Jazeera.

“There were seven lorries carrying families, elderly and children,” Ali Issa said. “We came to see what had happened but were not able to get to the dam.”

In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said the Arbaat dam had collapsed following heavy rains and that resources had been deployed to the area to help the people who had been stranded.

The statement said at least four people died in the flood waters – but estimates indicated it is significantly higher.

The Sudanese news outlet Medameek, citing the country’s air force, reported more than 100 people were missing, and that many other villagers had climbed to rocky hilltops to avoid the rising waters.

The dam is located in a remote area 25 miles (40km) north of Port Sudan and supplies drinking water to the Red Sea city. Built for holding spring and rainwater, it had a capacity of 25 million cubic meters, according to the news site Al-Tagheer.

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Many of the country’s top officials and civilians have fled to Port Sudan from the capital Khartoum after a brutal conflict broke out in the country in April 2023.

The war, pitting the country’s military against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has thrown Sudan into a humanitarian crisis. It has wrecked civilian infrastructure and an already battered healthcare system, pushing many into starvation.

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Most recently, a cholera outbreak – fuelled by flooding and poor sanitation facilities – has killed at least two dozen. The World Health Organization has rolled out a vaccination campaign, aiming to reach almost half a million people.

More than 10.7 million people have fled their homes since fighting began, with two million fleeing to neighbouring countries.

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