State of emergency declared in Yemen’s Socotra

ADEN: Yemen declared a state of emergency on the island of Socotra on Thursday as a tropical storm intensified after flooding several villages and capsizing boats to leave at least 19 people missing, government officials said.

Socotra, which lies between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, has been largely untouched by Yemen’s three-year-old war.

It is under the control of the internationally-recognised government whose president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is in exile in Saudi Arabia.

The island “requires urgent aid to help people stranded in their villages or those who reside in the mountains,” government spokesman Rajeh Badi told state news agency SABA.

Nineteen people were missing after seven boats capsized and three cars were washed away by floods, said one Yemeni government minister, adding that evacuations to shelters are still under way in the island’s capital.

Another official said more than 200 families had been evacuated from their villages.

The storm is worsening and most parts of the island have lost communications, said the governor of the nearby province of Hadhramaut.

The same weather system hit the Horn of Africa on Wednesday, killing more than 50 people in Somaliland.

Yemeni government spokesman Badi called on international humanitarian organisations and the Riyadhled military coalition participating in the war to provide urgent aid to the island, where Saudi and the UAE forces have a presence.

Coalition spokesman Turki al Maliki said late on Thursday that the coalition is coordinating with the Yemeni government and humanitarian assistance will reach the island on Friday morning, Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya reported.

The Saudi Ambassador Mohammed al Jaber said tens of thousands of tonnes of relief, shelter and medical items are being prepared to be transported to the island, provided by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

Cyclone Mekunu comes on the heels of another storm just a week earlier — Cyclone Sagar. Although it caused little reported damage in Yemen and Oman, the storm pummelled nearby Somalia, where local media reported at least 31 dead and thousands displaced.

Nineteen people were missing after seven boats capsized and three cars were washed away by floods, said one minister, adding that evacuations to shelters are still under way