Yemen: Flood death toll in Marib rises to 40, 7,300 families affected

The local authority in Ma'rib Governorate (eastern Yemen) announced that the number of victims of the rains and floods that have hit the governorate since last Sunday has risen to 40 people, between dead and wounded, and 7,300 families have been affected, most of whom are displaced.

The governor's deputy and head of the emergency committee, Dr. Abd Rabbuh Miftah, said while chairing an extraordinary meeting with humanitarian partners from representatives of UN, regional and international organizations on Tuesday, "The thunderstorms and strong winds that Marib governorate has been witnessing since Sunday morning have so far caused the death of 8 people and the injury of 36 others, including women and children, most of whom are displaced," according to the governorate's media.

He added, "7,300 families were affected by the rains, thunderstorms and accompanying strong winds, including 2,900 families that were completely affected and lost all their shelter, food and clean water sources."

"Miftah" stressed the need for all partners to raise the level of their emergency interventions in the governorate in a manner that is commensurate with the size of the disaster and covers a large percentage of the needs of the camps and affected areas, and to create a strategic stockpile for them to enable them to respond quickly and urgently to the needs of the displaced and those affected by rain and natural disasters.

The Deputy Governor of Marib called on all citizens living in valleys or near flood paths and channels to quickly move away from these dangerous areas and not to be present or stay in them or approach them, in order to preserve their lives and property, noting that the successive warnings from the meteorological centers indicate that Marib Governorate is still being affected by the low-pressure system that our country has been witnessing for several days and the expected heavy thunderstorms that accompany it.

For their part, representatives of the United Nations and international organizations reviewed their urgent plans to intervene in this natural disaster and provide all forms of assistance available to them in coordination with the local authority, the executive unit for managing the displaced persons camps and the concerned offices, stressing their readiness to communicate with their partners and seek to finance the largest possible amount of food and shelter assistance necessary to relieve those affected by the rains and floods that the governorate has been witnessing for several days.