CAIRO — Sudan’s Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said Aug. 27 that the level of the Nile hit a record high of 17.48 meters due to the recent deadly floods. It's the highest since the 1912 flood in Sudan, thus breaking the previous record of 17.14 meters.

According to the Sudanese Civil Defense, the floods that have recently ravaged Sudan have destroyed more than 100,000 houses, killed at least 100 people and displaced tens of thousands. Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said in an Aug. 30 tweet, “This year’s flood caused a tragic and painful loss of lives and properties.”

Although Sudan opposes Ethiopia’s unilateral filling of the reservoir of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Abbas said in a press conference in Khartoum Aug. 27, “If the GERD was complete, Khartoum would not have suffered such a wave of floods. One of the dam’s advantages, according to a number of studies, is easing the severity of the flooding.”

The second round of talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, held under the auspices of the African Union, ended Aug. 28 without an agreement on rules for filling and operating the GERD. Differences persist over technical issues related to managing water flow during times of drought and other legal aspects such as how binding the agreement will be and mechanisms to settle disputes and to coordinate the management of the Blue Nile waters. Sudan and Egypt decided not to extend the talks and instead submitted reports outlining each of the countries’ positions to South Africa, which presently chairs the African Union.