Torrential rain and flash floods in Yemen kill 45 and displace thousands

Vehicles drive through flood water following heavy rains in the province of Hajjah, Yemen August 7, 2024. (REUTERS)

• Forecasters warn of further extreme weather to come, urge residents to be cautious and avoid particularly risky areas
• UN Population Fund distributes aid to thousands of people, says many more are in desperate need of help but the ‘challenges are enormous’

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s National Center of Meteorology issued an orange notice on Thursday warning that further extreme weather is coming, after seven days of torrential rain and flash floods that have killed at least 45 people and displaced thousands across the nation.
The center cautioned people in the central highlands and along western and southern coasts not to drive through or remain in watercourses or valleys.
Officials in the western province of Hodeidah said on Wednesday that at least 30 people died and thousands had to leave their homes as a result of heavy rainfall and flash flooding in most districts in recent days.
Mohammed Guhim, the Houthi governor of Hodeidah, told Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV that five people were missing and the rains and flooding had affected thousands of residents in about 500 properties.
On Thursday, pro-government militia the Giants Brigades reported that one of its soldiers was killed and two were missing after flash floods carried them away while they were driving in the Hays area of Hodeidah.
Images and videos shared on social media showed severe rains hammering most of Hodeidah’s provincial districts, resulting in flash floods that inundated houses, cut many others off and washed away roads, residences, cars and farm crops. Bodies of flood victims were being found across Hodeidah and residents issued urgent pleas for help.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed on Wednesday that the rains had significantly affected thousands of people in Hodeidah province, leaving dozens dead, missing or injured, and severely damaging houses and infrastructure.
It said 15 people were killed by severe flooding in the Maqbanah District of Taiz on Aug. 2, which also displaced 10,000, buried at least 80 wells, swept away fields of crops, and wrecked and damaged houses and infrastructure. Heavy rains and flash floods also claimed lives and damaged property in the provinces of Hajjah, Mahweet and Raymah.
The UN Population Fund’s office in Yemen told Arab News on Thursday that they have distributed emergency relief to 6,797 people in Hodeidah, 3,976 in Hajjah, and 665 in Al-Mahweet and Raymah. It said many people were in desperate need of aid, including relief items, cash assistance, additional food assistance, and non-food items such as clothing.
“The challenges are enormous, including difficult access to affected populations because floods ruin roads and water is everywhere, as well as a shortage of supply to meet all the increasing needs,” the fund said.
In Hodeidah, residents described as “unprecedented” the heavy rain and flash floods that raged across villages and towns. A Yemeni government soldier in the Hays District of Hodeidah, who gave his name as Ali, told Arab News that military barricades, trenches, ammunition, water tanks and other equipment was washed away in the maelstrom, along with mango and banana trees.
“We haven’t witnessed severe rains and violent floods on such a large scale in 20 years,” he said, adding that the flooding had also unearthed land mines planted by the Houthis.
The devastating damage cause by the floods prompted Yemen’s internationally recognized government to issue an urgent request for assistance from foreign donors.
“The grave situation … necessitates immediate and thorough action to tackle the consequences and relieve the pain of affected individuals, provide them with required alternatives in the most impacted locations, and conduct urgent flood-draining measures,” the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation said in a statement reported by the official Yemen News Agency.