Thousands flooded by Sudan dam closure

Khartoum: Thousands of Sudanese villagers were flooded out of their homes on Tuesday, which village representatives blamed on a new $2 billion dam on the River Nile.

However, the government's Dams Implementation Unit denied it had shut the gates of the Merowe dam and said floods were caused by seasonal rains.

A spokesman for the Manaseer village committee said that more than 1,000 families on four islands in the Nile were stranded without food and shelter.

"Right now parts of the islands are being submerged...Farms near the river have been destroyed. They are fighting the water," said spokesman Hashim Ali.