By Simon Apiku

KHARTOUM, July 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations food agency said on Thursday it was launching an emergency effort to deliver aid to thousands of people in Sudan after flash floods destroyed their houses and killed 30 people.

"WFP (the World Food Programme) has joined forces with other UN agencies and the Sudanese government to get emergency supplies, including food and non-food items, moving quickly to the victims of the flooding," Kenro Oshidari, the WFP's representative in Sudan, said in a statement.

Heavy rains and flash floods that swept through central, eastern and southeastern Sudan over the past days had destroyed 15,000 homes, Sudan's civil defence authority said.

Internal Affairs Minister Al-Zubeir Bashir Taha said that 30 people had been killed.

The states affected most by the disaster included North Kordofan and White Nile in central Sudan, Kassala in the east and Sennar in the southeast.

"As an immediate first step, the agency plans to distribute food to 20,000 people in five locations near the city of Kassala, close to the Eritrean border, where the Gash River has burst its banks," the WFP statement said.

"WFP has 3,000 metric tonnes of food stockpiled in Kassala, enough to feed the flood victims for three weeks," it added.

The government has announced a state of alert in the areas affected and the civil defence authority, Sudanese Red Crescent and local non-government organizations have also mobilized help.

Some people are camped along tarmac roads on higher ground, which served as a sanctuary from what the Sudanese press described as the "madness" of the flood waters.

In certain areas, the floods submerged villages, wiped out tarmac roads and tore down bridges, making it difficult for help to reach stranded people.

The U.N. Mission in Sudan has offered helicopters for areas inaccessible by road and other means.

Last year the river Nile reached levels in Khartoum higher than both 1988 and 1946 when the worst floods of the century hit Sudan.

Government sources said at least 27 were killed in 2006 and almost 10,000 houses were partially or completely destroyed.

The authorities forecast a more severe rainy season this year.

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