FLOODING, LIGHTNING KILL 8 IN WAR-HIT YEMEN

Eight civilians have died in Yemen as a result of flooding and lightning strikes, an official and a medic told AFP on Saturday, highlighting the danger posed by severe weather in the nation that has been devastated by conflict. According to Hamza Saied, a physician at the hospital in Al-Layha, the lightning strikes happened on Friday in the districts of Al-Layha and Al-Zahra in the Hodeida governorate on the Red Sea coast. He stated, “Six women and a man were killed, and three other people were hurt.”

The region is under the authority of Huthi rebels who took control of the capital in 2014. This prompted a Saudi-led coalition to invade the following year, starting a horrific battle that has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in history. An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to brief the media claimed that floods in the neighbouring town of Hais also claimed the life of one lady and wrecked hundreds of homes on Friday. The city of Hais is situated in a region that is under the administration of the Aden-based, internationally acknowledged government. More than 200,000 people have been uprooted by extreme weather in Yemen so far this year, “many of whom had already been displaced multiple times,” the UN reports: “Heavy rain is now forecast to affect nearly 2 million displaced people over the coming weeks, threatening lives and livelihoods across multiple communities,” the report added.

Yemen, the poorest nation in the Arabian Peninsula, has infrastructure that is in ruins due to a conflict that has lasted almost ten years. Despite formally ending in October of last year, a ceasefire that went into effect in April of this year has mostly continued. On Thursday night, a Huthi team visited Riyadh for the first time since the Saudi-led coalition intervened, giving hopes for a more long-lasting truce a new boost.