Chain of hope

Yemeni volunteers form a human chain to pass food aid supplied by the UAE Red Crescent to the residents of mountain towns on the outskirts of Taez. Aftermath of tropical storm,

A tropical storm battered eastern Yemen, damaging water lines and cutting supplies to Al Ghaydah, the capital of Al Mahrah governorate.

Tariq Al Kindi, deputy director of the Water and Sanitation Corporation, said water plants and the generators used to run them had been “completely overwhelmed by floods”.

The Governor of Al Mahrah has declared the coastal districts a disaster area and the Minister of Local Administration has called on the UN and aid organisations to help.

“The residents of Al Ghaydah still get drinking water from what was reserved in tanks at home but it is going to run out, then a huge humanitarian crisis will appear,” Essa Al Kumairi, a spokesman for the local government, told The National.

Ninety per cent of the electricity grid in Al Ghaydah district and in some of the smaller towns along the coast is down and in need of repair.

Mr Al Kumairi called on the Arab Coalition, the Yemeni government and international aid organisations to repair damage caused by the storm.

At least three people were killed and 33 injured, authorities said.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 2,000 families in Al Mahrah had been significantly affected by the flooding, with many finding emergency shelter in public buildings.

It said more casualties should be expected and homes washed away in areas that have yet to be reached by emergency teams.

Rescue operations continued yesterday to move families stranded in the areas of Al Masilah, Sayhut and Qishn. An aid convoy sent by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre is due to arrive in the worst-hit regions.

Two aircraft, one Yemeni and the other from the UAE, are flying to safety residents stranded in Al Ghaydah.

Yemeni officials earlier called for help to rescue about 50 families stuck amid flooding and heavy rain in the area, describing the situation as “disastrous”.

The storm was expected to intensify yesterday afternoon.

Al Mahrah province in the far east of Yemen and the neighbouring Dhofar region of Oman are the only parts of the Arabian Peninsula that have a monsoon climate.