17 missing after cyclone Mekunu pummels Yemeni island
socotra (yemen) — Seventeen people were missing and hundreds of others evacuated from their homes on Thursday after Cyclone Mekunu hit the Yemeni island of Socotra, causing severe flooding and damage, officials said.
Neighbouring Oman is preparing for landfall on Friday, with national weather experts expecting Mekunu to intensify to a category two cyclone from category one, after it hit Socotra on Wednesday night.
The missing people had been in two boats that sunk and three vehicles swept away by floods, said Ramzy Mahrous, governor of Socotra, an island paradise 350km off Yemen in the Arabian Sea.
Yemen’s internationally recognised central government early on Thursday declared Socotra a “disaster province” and Mahrous said it could not handle relief efforts on its own, with the number of missing expected to rise.
“The coastal areas were submerged by floods causing heavy damage to homes,” with more than 10 villages in Socotra’s south and east cut off, Mahrous said.
Four people on one of the sunken boats were rescued while three of the missing had vehicles swept away by flooding, Fisheries Minister Fahad Kafin said. Around 150 families were evacuated to government facilities after downpours flooded houses and streets, trapping people in their homes, he said.
Some residents carrying children tried to escape through the flooded streets, a correspondent said.
Authorities called on humanitarian organisations and the Saudi-led military coalition that is battling Houthi rebels in the country to help, according to Yemen’s staterun news agency Saba.
“Socotra is a disaster province due to human and material damage at all levels and requires urgent aid,” said Rajeh Badi, a spokesman for Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called Socotra’s governor and promised to aid rescue efforts.
Yemeni relief officials called on international aid agencies to “send medical teams urgently” to Socotra and other areas in southern Yemen expected to be hit by the cyclone.
Millions of Yemenis are living in dire conditions as a result of a long-running civil conflict.
But Socotra has been spared involvement in the violence, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
In November 2015, Socotra and south Yemen areas were hit by cyclone Chapala which injured more than 200 people. —