Nearly 100 people killed across Yemen in recent weeks due to floods
Near his destroyed home, Abu Ibrahim mourns his son and 7 grandchildren who died in recent floods. Yemen Where it causes Rain “Unprecedented” increase in misery in a poor, war-torn country.
The man, his beard graying, points to the collapsed walls that are all that remain of the mountain house that was swept away by the torrential floods, and tries to hold back his tears as he recalls the collapse of his son’s house.
“We could hear the sounds of landslides and heavy rain,” Abu Ibrahim, who lives nearby with his wife, told AFP. “Then my wife saw that Ibrahim’s house was gone, so she screamed loudly: Ibrahim and his children were swept away by the floods.”
A Yemeni man walks through a pool of water at a camp for displaced people following recent heavy flooding in the Al-Khokha area of Hodeidah province. (AFP)
This is not the only family to have died or been displaced by this year’s monsoon rains, which experts say are becoming more severe each year as a result of climate change.
About 100 people have been killed across Yemen in recent weeks, according to a tally by Agence France-Presse based on figures published by the United Nations.
At the end of August, floods caused by heavy rains swept through Al Mahwit Governorate in western Yemen, leaving more than 40 people missing or dead, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which noted that dozens of homes were destroyed in the area, forcing 215 families to flee.
Map showing the location of Al Mahwit Governorate.
Sixty people were killed in floods that began in late July, according to the United Nations.
Rains and floods have affected more than 560,000 people across the country since late July, according to the International Organization for Migration, which has launched an urgent appeal to raise $13.3 million to respond to the needs of those affected.
“The scale of the destruction is horrific, and we urgently need additional funding,” said Matt Hooper, IOM’s acting chief of mission in Yemen.
“We heard the sounds of collapses.”
Yemen’s western highlands experience heavy seasonal rains, but this year’s weather conditions have been “unprecedented,” Hooper said.
In Malhan, floods and landslides swept away homes and buried a number of their residents.
Abdullah Al-Malhani, a neighbor of Ibrahim Al-Mahwit, who was killed with his sons, said, “We heard the sounds of the collapses from the mountains.”
He recalls how Abu Ibrahim asked him if he had seen his son and children, and he said, “We went out and did not find anyone, they all disappeared. They were swept away by the floods and rocks.”
The United Nations Population Fund in Yemen wrote on its X platform that delivering aid to those affected was “almost impossible” due to “damaged and floating roads,” accompanying the post with photos showing camels carrying aid boxes on rugged mountain roads.
📰🟧Overcoming almost impossible access through hard, destroyed & flooded roads, UNFPA-led #UN life-saving Rapid Response continues in #Melhan of Al Mahweet #Yemen& has assisted since August over 9,340 food-affected families in #Hudaydah,Hajjah, Al Mahweet & Raymah governorates. pic.twitter.com/1c7Kn5gUzq
— UNFPA Yemen (@UNFPAYemen) September 4, 2024
Yemen’s floods have destroyed homes, displaced thousands of families and damaged vital infrastructure including health centres, schools and roads.
The poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula is already suffering from increased rates of malnutrition and cholera cases as a result of the floods.
Yemen has been witnessing a conflict since 2014, which erupted with the control of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels over vast areas in the north of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.
The World Health Organization warned last month that the situation could worsen in the coming months, predicting that “the central highlands, the Red Sea coastal areas and parts of the southern highlands will see unprecedented levels of (precipitation) exceeding 300 mm.”
“Climate change is not only making floods more frequent, it’s making them more severe,” said Maha Al-Salhi, a researcher at the Green Dream Foundation, a Yemeni environmental organization.
