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YEMEN-FLOOD
More than 170 dead in Yemen floods
SANAA, Aug 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Flash floods triggered by
torrential rains have killed at least 172 people across Yemen over the
past month, damaging homes and UNESCO-listed world heritage sites,
officials said.
The destruction has dealt a new blow to a country already in the
grips of what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis after years of war between a Saudi-backed
government and Iran-allied rebels.
In the mainly government-held province of Maarib east of the
capital, 19 children were among 30 people killed by the floods, a
government official said.
In the province’s displaced persons camps, 1,340 families saw their
tents and belongings swept away, the agency in charge of them said.
In Lahij province in the government-held south, seven people were
drowned when their vehicle was swept downstream, a government official
told AFP.
Another four people were killed on the road connecting the southern
provinces of Hadramawt and Shabwa, the official added.
In the rebel-held north, the floods killed 131 people and injured
124 between mid-July and August 7, the rebel health ministry said.
They destroyed 106 homes and buildings and heavily damaged another
156, the rebel ministry added.
UNESCO expressed sadness at the flood damage to historic buildings
in the cities of Sanaa, Zabid and Shibam that are on its world
heritage list.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1907hrs