Deadly floods join war, disease to ravage Yemen
Recent floods have left at least five dead and injured nearly 100 others as Yemen struggles with war and a growing coronavirus crisis.
Severe flooding is wreaking havoc across Yemen as aid agencies warn of a surge in cholera cases and the potential for a massive coronavirus outbreak in the Arab world’s poorest country.
Officials told The National newspaper that flooding caused by heavy rains killed three children and injured nearly 100 residents of 18 displacement camps in the central Marib province on Wednesday. The children, all members of the same family, died while sheltering from the storm.
In Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, a man and child died after being swept away in a flash flood earlier this week, Yemeni health authorities said.
The rainy season could exacerbate what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Roughly 80% of Yemen’s population is reliant on food aid, and hundreds of thousands are afflicted with diphtheria, dengue and cholera.
