Flooding caused by torrential rainfall in parts of Yemen has led to at least 60 deaths since July, with 13 others still missing and a total of 268,000 people affected, the United Nations reported Monday.
Since July, flash floods have caused 36 deaths in Hodeida province, nine in Ibb, eight in Marib and seven in Taiz, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a report released on Monday.
“Public infrastructure, including schools, roads, and health facilities, have been affected. Livelihoods that were already hanging by a thread have been swept away,” OCHA said.
At least 600 people were injured due to flooding in Hodeida and Marib alone, it said, adding that a total of 13 people were still missing in Hodeida and Taiz.
OCHA report added that a total of 38,285 families — nearly 268,000 people — have been affected, predicting that “severe weather is expected to persist into September, with additional alerts for heavy rainfall.”
The University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative (UNDGAI) ranks Yemen as one of the region’s most climate-vulnerable countries.
According to according to a 2023 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Norwegian Red Cross, “Yemen In recent years has experienced an increase in the frequency and intensity of rainfall due to climate change, stimulated by atmospheric circulation in the Indian Ocean,.
Last week, the UN warned that $4.9 million was urgently needed to scale up the emergency response to Yemen’s extreme weather conditions.