Siege of Khartoum stores dwindled and starvation began to set in for both the garrison and the civilian population. Communication was kept through couriers while Gordon also kept in contact with the Mahdi, who rejected his offers of peace and to lift the siege. On 16 September an expedition sent from Khartoum to Sennar was defeated by the Mahdists, which resulted in the death of over 800 garrison troops at Al Aylafuh. By the end of the month, the Mahdi moved the bulk of his army to Khartoum, more than doubling the number already besieging it. As of 10 September 1884, the civilian
Khartoum main Nile ("see map, upper right") as it zigzags through northern Sudan into Egypt at Lake Nasser. Khartoum is relatively flat, at elevation , as the Nile flows northeast past Omdurman to Shendi, at elevation about away. Under Köppen's climate classification system, Khartoum features a hot arid climate, with only the summer months seeing noticeable precipitation. The city averages a little over of precipitation per year. Based on annual mean temperatures, the city is one of the hottest major cities in the world. Temperatures routinely exceed in mid-summer. Its average annual high temperature is , with six months of the