Floods sweep across Yemeni regions, praise for “heroic” rescue story | News

ByAugusto Kilone

Unprecedented floods swept across large parts of Yemen due to heavy rains, while Yemeni platforms interacted with a scene described as heroic of a young man who risked his life to save a family trapped in floods in Ibb Governorate in the center of the country.

These floods come amid repeated rainfall since the beginning of August in several areas across the country, from Taiz to Hodeidah, Hajjah, Marib, Al Jawf and Sana'a, while the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued a warning of the “repercussions of the environmental disaster” on the affected families.

The UN organization said that 180,000 people were affected by the floods in Yemen, indicating that there is an urgent need for $4.9 million to expand the scope of the emergency relief response.

Video clips circulated on social media platforms yesterday, Thursday, showed scenes of floods sweeping away citizens’ properties and damaging hundreds of homes, while popular and community efforts and some civil defense teams continue to evacuate families from areas damaged by floods in Ibb, Sana’a and Hodeidah.

While the Civil Defense in Yemen warned citizens against staying or crossing flood paths during rainfall and avoiding valleys and ravines due to the danger to life, the International Organization for Migration said that 57 people have died since the beginning of the devastating floods in Yemen, and the disaster has harmed more than 34,000 families.

“Heroic scene”

Among the stories of suffering caused by these floods and the damage they left behind, a story emerged that Yemeni activists described as heroic, about the scene of rescuing a family that was stuck in the floods in Ibb Governorate, as a young man risked his life to rescue women and children who were trapped by the floods, by using a rope that others were pulling with him.

The story has received interaction and praise on Yemeni and Arab platforms, praising the role of the young man and the rest of those who helped him during the rescue operation, while former Yemeni Minister of Culture Khaled Al-Ruwaishan wrote on his social media account, saying, “Abdul Majeed Al-Fakhri from the city of Jablah, Ibb Governorate. The country is proud of you, O pride of Ibb, and Yemen saved an entire family from drowning in the Jablah floods hours ago, including an infant.”

Last Wednesday, the United Nations said that at least 57 people were killed by floods in Yemen, while 16 others were injured, and more than 34,000 families were affected, since the beginning of the rainy season last March.

A report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicated that the number of victims is likely to increase in the coming weeks, noting that the current rains have damaged the infrastructure and destroyed many facilities and homes.

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