Heavy rains lash Sudan

Khartoum: Heavy rains in Sudan have killed at least six people, as the Nile approaches record levels.

The head of the country's civil defence authority said officials were prepared for floods this year.

Five people died in Khartoum and one in the remote western Darfur region because of floods, Hamadallah Adam Ali said, adding that he had no information on south Sudan where rainfall was heaviest.

"Now the levels of the Nile are approaching the levels of last year," Ali said, adding the river had reached 16.85 metres deep, just 10 centimetres short of last year's 16.95 metres.

But Sudan did not expect the disastrous effect of last year's floods because this year's rainy season started later and less rainfall is expected, and "We have lots of pumps ready and we are prepared."