AL-MUKALLA: Four internally displaced persons were killed and many others injured on Sunday in Yemen's central Marib province when torrential rain and strong winds battered their tents.
The four deaths rise to 61 the number in Yemen reported by the United Nations since the end of July.
The internationally recognized government's Executive Unit for Internally Displaced Persons in Marib told Arab News of the deaths, injuries and chaos caused by the weather.
Residents tweeted pictures and videos of smashed houses, makeshift shelters and electricity towers in the Jaw Al-Naseem camp in Marib, where parts of the camp were nearly flattened by strong winds.
Marib has hosted more than two million displaced people fleeing the war and Houthi brutality in its areas.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday that heavy rains and flooding had hit 34,260 homes in Yemen, causing widespread damage and killing 57 people and injuring 16, with the toll expected to rise.
According to the UN humanitarian agency's update on floods in Yemen, between July 28 and August 9, 31 people died and 6,042 families were affected in Yemen's western province of Hodeidah, 2,753 families were affected in the northern province of Hajjah and two deaths. and 3,451 affected families were reported in the northern province of Saada. In Taiz, a southern province, 15 people were killed and 6,494 households were affected.
Last week, at least 30 people were killed and others left homeless as heavy rains and catastrophic floods devastated Hodeidah, destroying houses, farmland and other property.
Yemen's National Meteorological Center on Sunday confirmed its warnings to Yemenis across the country against driving into or staying in waterways, predicting heavy rains, floods and strong winds in Yemen's highlands and western and southern regions.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government on Sunday reiterated its call for the international community to help the country's thousands of flood victims, unblock highways and restore services in four Yemeni provinces.
Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, said in a meeting with Steven H. Fagin, US Ambassador to Yemen, that the country needs immediate humanitarian aid to deal with the damage caused by floods and raids in the Hajjah provinces. , Hodeidah, Taiz and Marib.
Meanwhile, local tribesmen persuaded the Houthis to end their siege and stop invading a village in Al-Bayda province after residents agreed to hand over seven people suspected of killing local Houthi operatives.
In the previous days, the Houthis surrounded Hamat Sarar in the Walad Rabi area of Al-Bayda and threatened to attack it with tanks after accusing the locals of hiding four people suspected of murdering four of the militant group's members.
However, residents said the Houthis were killed in skirmishes with villagers when fighters at a Houthi-manned checkpoint killed a villager.
According to Nasser Ali Al-Sanae, a Yemeni activist from Al-Bayda, the villagers decided to surrender some locals to tribal mediation and hold a modest protest to show their support for the Houthis in exchange for the Houthis ceasing their attack on the village.
“People knew that the Houthis' retaliation would be terrible, so they decided to arrange the gathering and surrender some villagers to stop the bloodshed,” Al-Sanae said.
This came as Yemeni authorities, as well as local and international NGOs, warned of “carnage” if the Houthis attacked the village, as the Yemeni militia massed soldiers and tanks and flew drones above it in preparation for the attack.
“SAM calls on the Houthi group to immediately lift its siege of Hamat Sarar and end the policy of intimidation and repression it has pursued against civilians in its controlled areas for the past ten years,” said the Geneva-based SAM organization for rights and freedoms. in a statement on Sunday.
