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YEMEN-OMAN-WEATHER
Tropical storm kills three in Oman, Yemen
ADEN, Oct 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At least three people have been killed and
33 injured by flash flooding in Yemen and neighbouring Oman caused by
Tropical Storm Luban, the UN and local authorities have said.
Mahra province in the far east of Yemen and the neighbouring Dhofar region
of Oman are the only parts of the Arabian Peninsula that have a monsoon
climate governed by the tropical weather systems of the Indian Ocean.
Mountains rising to 1,300 metres (4,300 feet) separate a fertile coastal
strip from the infamous Empty Quarter in the vast desert interior.
Most of the Luban’s casualties were reported in coastal districts of Mahra,
where two people were killed and 33 injured by widespread flooding, the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said.
In Oman, the civil defence said one man was found dead in Dhofar.
Mahra governor Rajeh Bakrit said on Monday the province had been devastated
by the storm.
“The situation is catastrophic in the province and beyond the capabilities
of the local authorities,” he said, according to the government-run Saba news
agency.
Yemen President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi cited the “failure” of the
government’s efforts to respond to the “catastrophic” storm as one of the
reasons for dismissing prime minister Ahmed bin Dagher late on Monday.
UNOCHA said more than 2,000 families had been significantly affected by the
flooding in Mahra with many finding emergency shelter in displaced to public
buildings.
It warned there were expected to be more casualties and homes washed away
in areas that had yet to be reached by emergency teams.
In May, Cyclone Mekunu smashed into southern Oman and the Yemeni island of
Socotra, killing at least 11 people.
Residents of Mahra and Socotra have long complained of being left to fend
for themselves as Hadi’s beleaguered government focuses on wars against Huthi
rebels, who have controlled the capital Sanaa and much of the north since
2014, and against jihadists, who have a major presence in neighbouring
Hadramawt province.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1458 hrs