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UN: 35,000 Yemen families affected by floods over past two weeks

August 14, 2020 at 3:35 pm

People are seen amid muds on damaged streets hit by a flood due to heavy rain in Sanaa, Yemen on 7 August 2020 [Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency]

The United Nations said that 35,000 Yemeni families have been affected by the floods that struck the country over the past two weeks.

A report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), published on the organisation’s Twitter account, said: “In the months of July and August, floods struck Yemen, damaging the infrastructure, destroying homes and shelters, and causing deaths and injuries.”

The report pointed out that the torrential rains in various parts of Yemen have affected “nearly 35,000 families, many among them are displaced.”

The report indicated that many parts of Yemen were affected, while the governorates of Ma’rib, Hajjah, Raymah, Al-Mahwit and Hudaydah were particularly badly hit.

Yemen has been struck by severe rainfall which has led to flooding and caused the collapse of over 100 buildings in the Old City of Sanaa which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some 174 people have been killed as a result and hundreds injured, most of them in areas under Houthi control, according to official statistics.

READ: UNESCO mobilising to raise funds to protect Yemen heritage sites