AL-MUKALLA: Four internally displaced people were killed and many others injured in Yemen's central Marib province on Sunday as torrential rains and strong winds battered their tents.
The four deaths bring the UN's death toll to 61 in Yemen since the end of July.
The government's internationally recognized executive unit for internally displaced camps in Marib told Arab News of the deaths, injuries and chaos the weather has caused.
Residents tweeted pictures and videos of broken houses, makeshift shelters and electricity towers at the Jaw Al-Naseem camp in Marib, where parts of the camp were nearly leveled by strong winds.
Marib has hosted more than two million displaced people fleeing war and Houthi brutality in its areas.
Heavy rains and flooding have hit 34,260 homes in Yemen, causing widespread damage and killing 57 people and injuring 16, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday, with the toll expected to rise.
According to a UN humanitarian agency update on flash 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 Hajja, and two deaths and 3,451 families were affected. was reported in the northern province of Saada. In Taiz, a southern province, 15 people were killed and 6,494 households were affected.
At least 30 people were killed and others left homeless last week when heavy rains and catastrophic flooding ravaged Hodeidah, destroying homes, farmland and other property.
Yemen's National Meteorological Center on Sunday reaffirmed its warnings to Yemenis across the country against entering or staying in waterways, forecasting heavy rainfall, flooding and strong winds in Yemen's highlands and western and southern regions.
At the same time, the Yemeni government on Sunday reiterated its call for the international community to help the thousands of flood victims in the country, 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, the US ambassador to Yemen, that the country needs immediate humanitarian aid to deal with damage caused by floods and airstrikes in Hajjah provinces. , Hodeidah, Taiz and Marib.
Meanwhile, local tribesmen convinced the Houthis to end the siege and halt the invasion of a village in Al-Bayda province after residents agreed to hand over seven people suspected of murders by local Houthi agents.
In the previous few days, the Houthis surrounded Hamat Sarar in the Walad Rabi Al-Bayda area and threatened to attack with tanks after accusing local residents of harboring four people suspected of murdering four members of the militant group.
However, residents said the Houthis were killed in clashes with villagers when fighters at a Houthi-manned checkpoint killed a villager.
According to Nasser Ali Al-Sanae, a Yemeni activist from Al-Bayd, the villagers decided to forgo some local tribal mediation and hold a modest protest to show their support for the Houthis in exchange for the Houthis to stop attacking the village. .
“The people knew that the Houthi retaliation would be terrible, so they decided to hold a rally and surrender some villagers to stop the bloodshed,” Al-Sanae said.
It came as Yemeni government officials, as well as local and international NGOs, warned of “massacre” if the Houthis attack the village, as Yemeni militias massed troops and tanks and flew drones over 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 practiced against civilians in its controlled areas for the past ten years,” Geneva-based rights and freedoms organization SAM said. in a statement on Sunday.
