Torrential rainfall across Yemen caused severe flooding, cutting off several towns and damaging dozens of homes. According to local media reports, the rains started overnight and continued into Thursday morning, with Hadramawt province recording the most rainfall. The downpour also caused heavy damage to the already poor infrastructure across the country, including roads, water sources, and healthcare centers.
Videos posted online showed the flooding on several roads linking Seiyun district and Mukalla, the main city in the eastern province. In addition to this, parts of Shabwa province in Yemen’s south-east also suffered heavy rains concentrated in the districts of Rudum, Beihan, Mayfaa, Markha, and Ain.
Flash floods have been hitting Yemen since last April, and they have already damaged the country’s infrastructure extensively. Last summer, at least 10 buildings that were over 500 years old collapsed in Sanaa’s historic Old City, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The heavy rains also destroyed around 80 inhabited houses and hundreds of tents housing internally displaced people, killing at least 91 people across the country.
By the end of last summer, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 51,000 families and over 300,000 people were affected in 146 districts in 18 provinces across Yemen. The UN has allocated $44 million to address the fallout from the flooding.
Earlier this month, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees issued a warning that a quarter of the sites housing people displaced by Yemen’s civil war were at risk from floods. Currently, more than half a million people reside in these camps. Yemen’s National Centre of Meteorology has warned of severe weather across much of the country until at least Thursday.
The flooding has also affected neighboring Oman, with videos shared online showing muddy water overflowing onto roads in the north-eastern city of Nizwa. Heavy rain fell continuously from Monday evening into Tuesday afternoon in North Al Batinah, Musandam, and Al Dhahirah.
According to the UN Population Fund, approximately 77 percent of the 4.3 million displaced people in Yemen are women and children. Moreover, around 26 percent of displaced households are now headed by women, compared to nine percent before the escalation of the conflict in 2015.
As Yemen continues to face the aftermath of the floods, it is essential to support the affected people, particularly the vulnerable groups. The UN and other organizations are working towards providing aid and support to the victims, but more needs to be done to ensure their safety and well-being in the long term.
