SANAA (AlArabiya.net, Agencies)
Aid operations swung into higher gear in Yemen on Saturday after floods killed at least 58 people and six more died from lightning strikes during two days of fierce storms.
The interior ministry, updating an earlier toll, said at least 58 people died in flooding fed by torrential downpours that hit Hadramaut and Mahara provinces on Thursday and Friday.
At least five others were reported missing in Mahara.
Four people were also killed by lightning in the southern provinces of Tayez and Lahj, and a mother and son also died when struck by lightning in the Al-Mahwit region north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
With reports of hundreds more still missing or trapped by water in the hit areas, the death toll is expected to go higher, according to local press.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the formation of a rescue emergency committee with deputy prime minister for defense and security affairs Rashad al-Alimi heading it, reported 26 September daily.
The committee also includes ministers of defense, interior, information, transport, public works and roads, Agriculture and irrigation and the assistant secretary general of the ruling General People Congress.
The committee is entitled to provide immediate aid and shelter to those who are affected by downpours and flash floods in Hadramaut and al-Mahra.
The storm hit the country on Thursday and heavy floods swept through Hadramaut and Mahara on Thursday and Friday.
Officials told AFP that four people were killed by lightning in the southern provinces of Tayez and Lahj, and a mother and son also died when struck by lightning in the Al-Mahwit region north of the capital Sanaa.
An official told AFP that also among the affected areas was the UNESCO world heritage site of Shibam which was totally isolated by the flood waters and its historic buildings were threatened with collapse.
Shibam, home to more than 20,000 people, is famous for its high-rise mud-brick buildings that have given the town the nickname of "the Manhattan of the desert." |
