From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Fri Oct 24 2008 - 19:23:10 EDT
Yemen floods leave 46 dead, 20,000 homeless
October 25, 2008 -- Updated 1635 GMT (0035 HKT)
(CNN) -- Rain and flooding in Yemen has killed 58 people and left an
estimated 20,000 without basic shelter, a local newspaper reported
Saturday.
Most of the dead were in Hadramout, one of the worst-affected provinces,
said Yemen Post Editor-in-Chief Hakim al-Masmari, citing the Ministry of
the Interior.
Officials continued to evacuate people from affected areas, but
thousands remained stranded in their homes because the extensive rain
has prevented help from reaching them, the newspaper said.
The flooding follows several days of rain in the Middle Eastern country
that is unaccustomed to more than a few inches of rain a year.
The rain began Thursday as the remnants of a tropical cyclone moved over
the area, said CNN forecaster Martyn Jeanes. The rain continued Friday
and into the weekend as the weather system hung over the region, also
bringing rain to parts of Saudi Arabia and northern Somalia, Jeanes
said.
Better weather conditions were expected Sunday and conditions should be
"much improved" by then, Jeanes said.
Thousands of families have fled Hadramout, the newspaper reported. Some
evacuees are being taken to schools, but they can only accommodate about
10 percent of the people, the newspaper previously said.
The Yemeni government promised to send tents as emergency shelter.
More than 730 houses have been destroyed and many infrastructure
projects suffered damage from the rains, according to SABA, the Yemeni
news agency. The rains also caused damage to property and agricultural
lands and killed a large number of livestock, SABA reported.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the formation of an
emergency committee for the delivery of aid to those who were affected
by heavy rains, the news agency said.
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