26 Yemenis die in floods triggered by rainfall

Children sit on a bed in a flooded house following heavy rain in a village in Hudaydah Province, Yemen, April 15, 2016. ©Reuters

A total of 26 people have lost their lives in western Yemen as floods caused by heavy downpour hit the war-ravaged impoverished country and destroyed dozens of homes.

Abdulrahman Jarallah, director of the health bureau in Yemen’s western Hudaydah province, released the death toll recorded between Wednesday night and Friday evening, Hadarem Net news website reported on Saturday.

Jarallah said eight people were killed only on Friday in the province’s two districts of Zuhrah and Luhayyah.

He further noted that flood water has demolished 12 and 7 villages in Zuhrah and Luhayyah, respectively.

In the northwestern province of Amran, the flooding also claimed the lives of three Yemenis, Jarallah said.

Elsewhere in Hajjah, another northwestern province, 14 people died as a result of the flooding, he added.

People wade through a flooded neighborhood following heavy rain in a village in Hudaydah Province, Yemen, April 15, 2016. ©Reuters

According to the health official, aid groups have provided emergency relief materials to affected citizens.

Floods have caused heavy damage across Yemen, with rushing muddy water cutting off roads and sweeping away vehicles and cattle, reports say.

Yemen is situated at the southern corner of the Arabia Peninsula, overlooking the Red and the Gulf of Aden.
The country’s rainy season is in the spring and summer in the north while the wet season is in the south in the winter.

The natural disaster comes as Yemen has been under relentless Saudi airstrikes for more than a year. Over 9,000 people have so far lost their lives in Riyadh’s brutal military aggression.