A dog watches as children fetch water from a water pit created by recent heavy floods in the Hays area, south of Hodeidah province, Yemen, August 28, 2024. | Photo credit: AFP
At least 16 people have been killed in flash floods in a Yemeni rebel-held district, rebel media reported on Thursday (August 29, 2024), while the search for other missing people continued.
Al-Masirah television of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels quoted a local official as saying that civil defence teams had recovered the bodies of 16 of the 38 missing people in al-Mahwit province, west of the capital Sanaa.
A landslide triggered by torrential rains on Tuesday night (August 27, 2024) collapsed houses and commercial establishments in the province’s Melhan district, burying some of their occupants.
Mohammad Miftah, the rebel administration’s deputy prime minister, told al-Masirah that “roads were blocked by floods, hindering the access of rescue teams for several hours”.
Heavy rains that have been lashing the mountainous provinces for a week have also hit neighbouring Hodeidah province on the Red Sea coast.
Ahmed Suleiman and his children in the government-controlled town of Hass survived, but he told AFP that “the flood swept away our house, our cattle, all our belongings, our blankets, everything in the house.”
“Our belongings, our beds, our food … the flood took everything,” said Saud Mazashi, another resident.
The mountains of western Yemen receive heavy seasonal rainfall. According to the United Nations, flash floods in Yemen have killed 60 people and affected 268,000 since the end of July.
The World Health Organization warned on Monday (August 26, 2024) that, “In the coming months, rainfall is forecast to increase, with unprecedented levels of rainfall exceeding 300 millimeters (12 inches) expected in parts of the central highlands, the Red Sea coastal areas and the southern highlands.”
Earlier this month, the United Nations warned that $4.9 million was urgently needed to scale up the emergency response to extreme weather in war-torn Yemen.