Flashfloods Bring Destruction [Archives:1998/31/Local News]

By: Mohammed Al-Qadhi, at Manakha,
Bassam Al-Saqqaf, at Naqeel Yislah, and
Ibrahim Al-Marghamy, at Al-Qadam.
The engineers of the Highway Authority are still trying to cope with the road destruction brought about by rainfloods. The most seriously affected regions are about eighty kilometers from Manakha to Al-Qadam on the Sanaa-Hodeidah highway. Parts of the Sanaa-Taiz highway was also similarly damaged.
“But most of the damage is on the feeder and secondary roads. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in transportation costs, as people have reverted to the use of camels and mules to carry supplies,” explained Engineer Abdul-Wali Mughallis, Director General of Road Maintenance. He and his team are now working around the clock to repair as much as possible on the Hodeidah and Taiz roads.
At another level, lots of terraces and farms have been destroyed. The damage was extensive at Ba-Breid in Haraz region. Walid Hussain, a farmer, told the Yemen Times team which visited the area that his family has lost more than 500 trees.
Several houses collapsed, leading to to at least six deaths in the area of Bani Ismail, Al-Maghariba, Bani Attiyah and Al-Qadam, in the mountains sloping westwards.
Total damages because of the rains and floods is estimated at around 2.5 billion Riyals.
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