AL MUKALA: Four internally displaced persons were killed and many others injured on Sunday in Yemen's central Marib province when torrential rains and strong winds swept away their tents.
The four deaths brought the death toll in Yemen to 61 reported by the UN since the end of July.
The internationally recognized government's executive branch for internally displaced persons in Marib told Arab News about the death toll, injuries and chaos caused by the weather.
Residents tweeted images and videos of destroyed houses, makeshift shelters and electricity pylons at Jaw Al Nasim camp in Marib, where parts of the camp were nearly leveled by strong winds.
Marib has hosted more than two million displaced persons fleeing war and Houthi brutality in their areas.
Heavy rains and flooding have affected 34,260 homes in Yemen, killing 57 people and injuring 16, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday, with the number expected to rise.
According to the updated information of the humanitarian agency of the United Nations on the 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 affected families were registered in the northern province of Saada. In Taiz, a southern province, 15 people died and 6,494 households were affected.
Last week, at least 30 people were killed and others left homeless as heavy rains and catastrophic floods ravaged Hodeidah, destroying homes, farmland and other property.
Yemen's National Meteorological Center on Sunday reaffirmed its warnings to Yemenis across the country to avoid entering or being in water bodies, forecasting heavy rainfall, flooding and strong winds in Yemen's mountainous areas and western and southern regions.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government on Sunday reiterated its call for the international community to help thousands of flood victims in the country, unblock highways and restore services in Yemen's four provinces.
Rashad al-Alimi, the chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, said in a meeting with Stephen H. Feigin, the US ambassador to Yemen, that the country needs immediate humanitarian aid to repair the damage caused by floods and airstrikes in the Hajj provinces. , Hodeida, Taiz and Marib.
Meanwhile, local tribesmen convinced the Houthis to end their siege and invasion of a village in al-Bayda province after residents agreed to hand over seven people suspected of killing local Houthi agents.
During the previous few days, the Houthis surrounded Hamat Sarar in the Walad Rabi district of al-Bayda and threatened to attack it with tanks after accusing local residents of harboring four people suspected of killing four members of the militants.
Residents, however, said the Houthis were killed in clashes with villagers when fighters at a Houthi checkpoint killed a villager.
According to Nasser Ali Al-Sanaeh, a Yemeni activist from Al-Bayda, the villagers decided to hand over some locals to tribal mediation and stage a modest protest to show their support for the Houthis in exchange for the Houthis to stop advancing on the village. .
“The people knew that the retribution from the Houthis would be terrible, so they decided to organize a rally and hand over some villagers to stop the bloodshed,” Al-Sanaeh said.
It came as Yemeni government officials and local and international NGOs warned of “massacre” if the Houthis attack the village, as Yemeni militias mobilized soldiers and tanks and launched drones over it in preparation for the attack.
“SAM calls on the Houthis to immediately lift the siege of Hamat Sarar and end the policy of intimidation and repression it has practiced against civilians in areas under its control for the past ten years,” said Geneva-based SAM Rights and Freedoms. in a statement on Sunday.
