AL-MUKALLA: At least five people have been killed by flash floods following torrential rains this week in the south, central and western regions of Yemen, local media and officials said.
Three people drowned and two others were rescued after a bus was swept away by floodwaters in the Bayhan district in the southern province of Shabwa. Roads and farms were also destroyed by flooding in the province.
Local people on Wednesday recovered the body of a soldier who died when floodwaters submerged his vehicle near Ahwar in the southern Abyan governorate. Two soldiers in the same vehicle escaped unharmed.
At least two more people were swept away in southern Yemen.
Social media videos showed Yemeni bus drivers attempting to cross flooded roads in several regions, ignoring warnings not to put lives in danger.
At least 20 houses in Al-Haraziyah, Al-Uliyah and Taiz were partly demolished or submerged by flash floods, forcing residents to abandon their properties and seek shelter with relatives.
People said that heavy rain and flooding have wrecked their homes and contaminated food supplies, and requested immediate help during Ramadan.
In the past two years, severe rain and flooding have killed dozens of Yemenis around the country, devastated homes, destroyed displaced persons’ camps, and laid the ground for the spread of illnesses such as cholera.
Meanwhile, the National Meteorology Center on Wednesday predicted rainfall and flash floods in several regions of Yemen this week and advised residents to avoid waterways.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization earlier said that flooding damaged essential infrastructure, affecting 31 families in Taiz.
Floods had affected over 9,000 families around the country in the past month, it added.
The FAO warned that torrential rain and flooding until mid-April is expected to destroy additional infrastructure and farmland, and threaten 22,000 people in Sanaa, Dhamar, Ibb, Lahj, Hadramout and Jouf.
“These areas and much of the Highlands should brace for deadlier downpours and floods in the coming week,” FAO’s agrometeorological alert said.
“Bacterial diseases such as cholera outbreaks are expected to take their toll, especially in internally displaced people’s camps where critical water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure has already been swept away. Humanitarian interventions to reinforce these facilities in these areas are therefore strongly encouraged,” it added.
