AL-MUKALLA: A severe weather alert was issued by Yemen’s National Center of Meteorology on Sunday, as the death toll from almost three weeks of heavy rainfall and flooding surpassed 100.
The center warned that “heavy to very heavy thunderstorms” would hit the provinces of Al-Mahra, Hadramout, Shabwa, Abyan, Hajjah, Taiz, Ibb, Dhale, Hodeidah, Sanaa, and the western coastal areas and highlands in the next 24 hours.
People are advised not to venture out or cross any watercourses.
During the previous 24 hours the western city of Hodeidah received the most rain (66.3 mm), followed by Ibb (21.4 mm), Dhale (16.2 mm), Mahweet (15.2 mm), and Sanaa (8.7 mm), according to the center.
The latest warning comes as local authorities and media reports say at least ten people were killed and a dozen went missing in the heavy rains and flash floods that hit various Yemeni provinces over the last four days. This brings the total number of deaths in Yemen caused by flooding to more than 100 since late July.
Two young people were swept away by flash floods while attempting to rescue two children stranded in floodwater in Ibb, while two children were killed by lightning bolts in the Zuhrah region of Hodeidah. At least five people have been killed in the central and northern highlands.
The devastating waters have also swept away farmland, schools and homes, wrecked bridges and other infrastructure, and left thousands of Yemenis homeless and hungry.
Last week, Lisa Doughten of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the most recent rains and flooding had killed 98 people, wounded more than 600, and impacted 69,500 households.
Hodeidah is the province most severely affected, with at least 30 people dead and hundreds left homeless since late July.
According to officials in the government-controlled Hays area, one person has died and six others are missing after flash floods last Saturday that devastated 1527 households in 13 villages, wrecking crops and sweeping away animals.
On Sunday, Saudi aid agency KSrelief donated 7,500 boxes of dates to individuals in Hodeidah’s At-Tuhayta and Hays areas. The World Food Programme also distributed 12,793 food baskets to government-controlled areas.
In the central city of Marib, the government unit in charge of managing the displaced people camp reported that eight people, including four women and a child, were killed and 34 injured in the most recent heavy rains and strong winds. Some 3,673 displaced families lost their homes and other belongings and 8,689 other families were also affected.
The government has said more humanitarian assistance is needed for the thousands in need of shelter, food and medicine, saying present operations barely meet 12 percent of the demand.
