AL-MUKALLA: Four internally displaced people were killed and many others injured in Yemen's central Marib province on Sunday when torrential rains and strong winds battered their tents.
The four deaths bring to 61 the number in Yemen reported by the UN since the end of July.
The government's internationally-recognised Executive Unit for Marib IDP camps told Arab News about the deaths, injuries and chaos caused by the weather.
Residents tweeted pictures and videos of destroyed houses, makeshift shelters and electricity towers in Marib's Jaw Al-Naseem camp, where parts of the camp were nearly flattened by strong winds.
Marib has hosted more than two million displaced people fleeing war and Houthi brutality in their areas.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday that heavy rains and flooding had affected 34,260 homes in Yemen, causing extensive damage and killing 57 people and injuring 16, with the toll expected to rise.
According to the UN humanitarian agency's 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 Hodeidah province, 2,753 families were affected in the northern Hajjah province, 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 when heavy rains and catastrophic flooding ravaged Hodeidah, destroying homes, farmland and other property.
Yemen's National Meteorological Center on Sunday reiterated warnings to Yemenis across the country against driving or staying in waterways, forecasting heavy rain, 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 to 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 raids in the provinces Hajjah. , Hodeidah, Taiz and Marib.
Meanwhile, local tribesmen convinced 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 harboring four people suspected of killing four of the militant group's members.
But 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 in Al-Bayda, the villagers decided to abandon some locals to tribal mediation and stage a modest protest to show their support for the Houthis in exchange for an end to their attack on the village . .
“The people knew that the revenge of the Houthis would be terrible, so they decided to organize the gathering and give up some villagers to stop the bloodshed,” Al-Sanae said.
This came as Yemeni government authorities, as well as local and international NGOs, warned of “carnage” should the Houthis attack the village, as the Yemeni militia gathered soldiers and tanks and flew with drones above it in preparation for the attack.
“SAM calls on the Houthi group to immediately lift the siege of Hamat Sarar and end the policies of intimidation and repression it has practiced 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.
